Presidency Lambasts Melaye Over 2018 Budget Comment

The Presidency on Thursday responded to statement made by Senator Dino Melaye that President Muhammadu Buhari should have returned the 2018 budget to the National Assembly if he was unsatisfied with it.

Buhari has queried the introduction of 6,043 projects, and the increment of the budget by N14.5 billion, chiding the National assembly for reducing allocations for some projects

However, the president said he had decided to sign the bill, “in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy”.

In his response, the senator representing Kogi West said the National Assembly was not just “expected to rubber stamp whatever bill the President presented”.

“I noticed that PMB is trying to whip up sentiments against the National Assembly again by alleging that the 2018 budget was padded.

“What the President is authorised to do constitutionally is to present the National Assembly with a bill. A bill is a work in progress and not the finished work.

“The National Assembly is not just expected to rubber stamp whatever bill the President presents. If this was the norm then there would have been no need for the Constitution to direct that the Bill be submitted to the N/A in the first place.”

Reacting, Buhari’s aide, Lauretta Onochie said Dino Melaye should not tarnish the image of the NASS further.

In a statement on her Twitter page, Onochie said, “A National Assembly with Sen Melaye who is standing trial for criminal offences and who commutes between a Court and the House of Senate, does not need more help to further smear it.”