The All Progressives Congress senator representing Kwara South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Rafiu Ibrahim, has appealed to Nigerians to remain calm as both President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the assembly are working to ensure that the 2016 budget takes care of all interests in the country.
He told Punchng in an interview in Abuja on Sunday that the President would sign the budget in a matter of days, because the executive and the legislature were already fine-tuning the disputed areas in the fiscal document.
Ibrahim, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, also said members of the upper chamber did not consider the issue of ethnicity in the consideration of the budget.
He added that the lawmakers, not minding their geo-political zones, would not reject the inclusion of priority projects wherever they were located from being included in the budget.
He said, “We cannot say that President Buhari has delayed in the signing of the budget. The leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives are already ensuring that all grey areas in the budget are amicably resolved.
“Once these have been addressed, the next line of action will be a formal presentation to the President for his eventual assent, which, according to the Senate President, will be done in a matter of days.
“Nobody is against any project anywhere in the country that will be of immense benefit to the entire citizens of Nigeria.”
Senators Kabir Marafa, Issa Misau, Ahmad Lawan, Barnabas Gemade, George Akume and Suleiman Hunkunyi, as well as the Senate spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi, did not pick their calls. They did not also respond to the text messages sent to them on the issue by our correspondent.