<\/p>\n
Nov 3, 2017: Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday protested as President Muhammadu Buhari requested their permission to present the estimates of the 2018 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.\u00a0The President asked to be allowed to lay the estimates on Tuesday, November 7.<\/p>\n
Buhari’s request was contained in a letter that the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, read to members during plenary in Abuja.<\/p>\n
\u201cPursuant to Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution, may I crave the kind indulgence of the National Assembly to grant me the slot of 1400hrs (2pm) on Tuesday, 7th of November, 2017 to formally address a joint session and lay before the National Assembly the estimates of the 2018 budget proposal,\u201d Buhari wrote.<\/p>\n
At the House, Dogara had hardly completed reading the letter when lawmakers started protesting.<\/p>\n
Amid the shouts of \u201cno,\u201d \u201cno,\u201d some members were heard asking, \u201cWhat about the 2017 budget? Have they implemented the 2017 budget? No, take it (letter) back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others also said they would prefer to receive the President by 11am and not 2pm.<\/p>\n
But, Dogara reminded the lawmakers that under the constitution, they could not refuse to receive the appropriation bill from the President.<\/p>\n
He noted that while the constitution provided that the President \u201cshall cause the estimates of the budget to be prepared and laid\u201d before the legislature, it did not provide that lawmakers could refuse to receive it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonourable colleagues, unfortunately, the constitution does not provide that we can refuse to receive the budget estimates,\u201d the speaker added and admitted Buhari\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
PUNCH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nov 3, 2017: Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday protested as President Muhammadu Buhari requested their permission to present the estimates of the 2018 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.\u00a0The President asked to be allowed to lay the estimates on Tuesday, November 7. Buhari’s request was contained in a letter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n