Buhari Warns Lawmakers Against Passing Budgets for Govt Enterprises Directly

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday warned lawmakers against passing budgets of the government owned enterprises that could create confusions.
The president, during his speech at the budget presentation, said previous practices where budgets were passed for government-owned enterprises regardless of the content of the appropriation must stop.
He told lawmakers, “I would like to implore the leadership of the National Assembly to ensure that the budget I lay here today, which includes those of the GOEs, be returned to the Presidency when passed.”
The president accused that some committees of the National Assembly had in the past passed budgets for the enterprises only to discover what they passed were at variance with what is contained in the budget.
“The current practice where some committees of the National Assembly purport to pass budgets for GOEs, which are at variance with the budgets sanctioned by me, and communicate such directly to the MDAs is against the rules and needs to stop,” the president warned
He reminded them that both the Executive and the Legislature had earlier integrated the budget of Government-Owned Enterprises into the FGN’s 2019 budget submission.
This, he said, has helped to enhance the comprehensiveness and transparency of the FGN budget. It has however come to my attention that Government-Owned Enterprises liaise directly with relevant NASS committees to have their budget passed and issued to them directly.