No budget is missing; Work on it to complete by February ending – Senate’s spokesman

Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi has said that no statement made by any Senator during the plenary Wednesday can be interpreted to mean an admission that the 2016 budget is missing.

He said there is no budget missing and that the Senate will Thursday distribute copies of the budget to all the Senators so as to arm them to properly contribute to the debate which will take place from Tuesday, January 19 to Thursday, January 21, 2015.

Already, all senators have indicated the date they will make their own contribution on the budget.

Abdullahi stated that during Wednesday’s plenary when Senator Enyinaya Abaribe sought for clarification on the story in the media surrounding the information that the copy of the 2016 budget submitted to the Senate was missing and sought to know the update on the issue, the Senate President replied that the issue he (Abaribe) mentioned and all issues emanating from the executive sessions are being looked into by an adhoc committee and that all Senators should wait for the committee to submit its report.

“We have reeled out our time table for working on the budget. So, how can the same budget be missing? The Senate President never said or admitted that the budget is missing and there was nothing that he said while presiding over the plenary that could be logically interpreted to mean an admission that the budget is missing.

“The media should please avoid unnecessary sensationalism. We assure Nigerians that our time table of completing work on the budget by February ending remains sacrosanct and we will work assiduously to achieve it,” he said.