The House of Representatives yesterday failed to pass the 2015 budget as it adjourned plenary till March 31, by which time the election to determine the nation’s next crop of National Assembly members would have taken place.
Presidential and National Assembly elections were rescheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to hold on March 28.
It was expected that the estimated N4.3trn budget would be passed on Thursday, but the lower chamber adjourned without passing the budget.
The Reps members merely adopted the harmonised report on the 2015-2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework by its committee and that of the Senate, deferring further operations till March 31.
The two chambers of the National Assembly had also in a joint conference, adopted $53 as the crude oil benchmark for the budget and equally agreed on N190 as the exchange rate of naira to the US Dollar.
Notwithstanding these concurrence by the National Assembly, the members adjourned for elections without passing the budget beating all anticipations.
Throwing light on the deferment of the budget passage, Deputy Spokesman, Mr. Victor Ogene, claimed that the delay was to give room for the appropriation committees of the Senate and the House to meet with the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on a little adjustment to the budget.
While explaining that the Senate had earlier passed $52 as the benchmark with the House passing $54, he disclosed that the harmonisation at conference resulted in the $53 that was eventually agreed as the oil benchmark.
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