The Senate on Thursday postponed till Dec. 5, the passage of Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which covers 2018 to 2020.
The postponement followed a motion by the Senate Leader, Sen. Ahmed Lawan, on the floor of the senate on Thursday.
The upper house agreed to step down the MTEF document until Tuesday when it would have known the OPEC benchmark.
In his remarks, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, urged lawmakers to support the motion to enable the Upper Chamber to take informed decisions.
He said “we would wait and see the outcome of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting regarding production quota.
“That will determine what would be the ultimate benchmark.
“I, therefore, appeal that we support the prayer and step down the consideration of the report of the committee on MTEF.
“This is to ensure that by the time we come back next Tuesday, we will be able to have the necessary information that will enable us to take decision on the matter.”
This is the second time the Senate is postponing consideration and passage of the document, which ought to set the tone for passage of the 2018 Budget Estimate.
The consideration of the document was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday.
The country’s MTEF and budget are majorly based on crude oil benchmark, and as such the outcome of OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, will be instrumental to producing a working document on Nigeria’s budget.
The 2018 Budget estimate of N8.6 trillion is predicated on oil benchmark price of 45 dollars per barrel and a daily oil production level of 2.3 million barrels.
Over N4 billion is expected to be used in funding the 2018 budget.
