By Henry Omunu, Abuja
The House of Representatives on Thursday again stepped down debate on the 2019 Appropriation Bill because the Ministry of Budget and National Planning failed to submit the reconciled budgetary figures as demanded by members.
Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, who asked that the bill be stepped down till Tuesday next week, said the corrected report needs to be submitted by the relevant government agencies before the House continues debate on the budget.
The lawmakers had on Wednesday, urged the ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning as well as the Director General of the Budget Office to submit a corrected version of the budget as the one before the House was filled with irreconcilable figures.
This discovery prompted the House to limit debate on the budget to the general principles of the money bill at Wednesday’s plenary after the errors were detected.
Dogara in his ruling directed relevant House committees to liaise with the budget office to correct the errors.
