2016 Budget Padding Slashed from N500bn to N75bn

According to recent reports, President Muhammadu Buhari is set to receive a 'reworked' version of the 2016 from the National Assembly with the padding considerably slashed.




Reliable sources close to the NASS said the lawmakers had realised that it was wrong for them to have usurped the functions of the executive by introducing items not contemplated by the Presidency into the budget and illegally transferring capital votes to such items.

The source said that given the furore that had attended the budget, the National Assembly Committee on Appropriation and Finance had opted to drop its tough stance against the Presidency and remove the vexatious issues that made President Buhari to reject the budget.

A top source close to the budget document said the lawmakers had agreed to expunge all the illegal projects estimated at about N500 billion, which they inserted into the document for the President’s assent.