2021 National budget to be presented next week – Senate President

• Senate agreed the Electoral Act be reviewed

Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, has said that the 2021 National budget would be presented to the joint session of the National Assembly next week.

Lawan stated this on Tuesday after over two hours’ executive session behind closed doors.

Giving a hint on what was discussed upon resumption of plenary after a two-months’ annual holiday, the Senate President explained that the 2020 implementation of Nigeria’s annual budget has been disrupted due to COVID-19 pandemic.

He spoke on the readiness of lawmakers to expeditiously deal with the proposed 2021 budget which would be submitted next week, advising that head of agencies of government should make themselves available for budget defence for seamless budget passage.

“As we make effort to attend to the expeditious passage of 2021, I want to advise Chief Executives of agencies of government to make themselves available to defend their budget on time.”

He expressed fears that the impact of COVID-19 against the nation would be devastating if nothing was done to mitigate such, saying that all arms of government should hastily rise to the occasion of ensuring that the economy was prevented from going into recession.

Lawan also revealed that Senators have agreed behind closed doors that the Electoral Act be reviewed to ensure free and fair elections.

According to him, the chamber has taken note of time constraints in view of the general election, hence it would be treated with dispatch.

He also decried the high level of insecurity in Nigeria, stating that lawmakers will attend to the challenge.

“The country is bedeviled with enormous insecurity and the Senate would do all it could to address the ugly trend.”