…as Senate President, Assembly leaders meet today
Senator Ita Enang, the Presidential Liaison in the Senate has warned that Nigeria might face total government shutdown if the National Assembly did not reconvene urgently.
It was the second time in 24 hours that Enang would speak on the issue. The National Assembly went on recess on 24 July and will reconvene on 25 September, with the budget for the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Supplementary budget requiring attention.
Enang said the assembly also needed to approve foreign loans for the country, funds from which government planned to bankroll the capital budget of 2018.
Enang reiterating his statement Sunday, said: “We are still appealing to the National Assembly to reconvene; you remember that we passed the budget with the understanding that a great amount of the money will be gotten from foreign loans.
“Although it was approved that there would be a loan, the amount that would be gotten was not approved; the Fiscal Responsibility Act requires that the President should specifically state the amount he wants to get from foreign loans and present it before the National Assembly.
“That letter has been presented before the National Assembly and it has to pass that amount before it could be obtained from the foreign financing institutions.
“This is what we are asking and if does not happen, in the next few months, we have a complete government shutdown because what we are receiving from the Federation Account as Federal Government share — the capital component — is not enough to sustain even 15 per cent to 20 percent of budget.
“So, there may be a complete government shut down and I know Nigerians will not like it; that is why we are appealing to the National Assembly to reconvene,’’ he said.
Enang spoke at the State House on Monday after a meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
He had met the Acting President along with Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan.
Meanwhile, Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has called an emergency meeting of the leadership of the Upper and Lower chambers of the National Assembly.
The meeting, which is scheduled to hold on Tuesday in Abuja, comes days after some lawmakers called for the reconvening of the assembly in order to attend to some urgent matters of state.
The principal officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives are expected to attend the meeting.
It will be the first meeting since the National Assembly went on recess two weeks ago, following heated political manoeuvrings trailing the defections in the parliament.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the National Assembly is also expected to meet with Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
The Presidency had said that it was not contemplating and would not be a party to anything that would destabilise the National Assembly.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, faulted the allegations that they were planning to get the Senate reconvened illegally.
