The former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has accused the National Assembly of planning to pad the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF.
He also lamented that no lesson had been learnt from the padding saga that trailed the 2016 budget.
Jibrin spoke in Abuja on Friday, the eve of the first 100 days since the crisis in the House of Representatives over the budget padding saga became a national issue.
Jibrin has since been suspended from legislative duties for 180 days.
Jibrin, however, explained that nothing had changed from the process, pointing out that National Assembly’s invitation to the Minister of Finance and her counterpart in the Budget and National Planning Ministry over the MTEF was to prepare ground for another round of budget padding.
Jibrin said, “I don’t believe any lesson has been learnt with what I see happening.
“The whole process of forming a small group, inviting the Minister of Budget (and National Planning) and the Minister of Finance, has started and that is where the whole problem in the appropriation process starts.”
Recall that the Senate has invited the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma over the MTEF for 2017 – 2019.
The invitation was contained in a letter signed by Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume.
The House has also sent similar invitation to the executive.
President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier forwarded the document to both the Senate and the House of Representatives for consideration and approval.
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