JUST IN: Buhari Sends “Corrected” 2016 Budget To National Assembly

The “corrections” were contained in a letter read by Senate President Bukola Saraki during senate plenary.

The president in his letter said the “draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in figures”.

The letter reads: ‪“It will be recalled that on Tuesday, 22 December, 2015, I presented my 2016 budget proposals to the joint sitting of the national assembly. I submitted a draft bill accompanied by a schedule of details.

“At the time of submission, we indicated that because the details had just been produced, we would have had to check to ensure that there were no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule.

“That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted.

“The national assembly would therefore have the details as submitted on the 22nd and a copy containing the corrections submitted last week. It appears that this has led to some confusion.

“In this regard, please find attached the corrected version. This is the version the national assembly should work with as my 2016 budget estimates. The draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in any of the figures.”

The Senate is expected to begin debate on the 2016 budget proposal as Saraki asked Senate Leader Ali Ndume to ensure the copies of the corrected document are circulated today, Tuesday.

Controversy had surrounded the fiscal estimate as it was first alleged that it was missing before the senate revealed that there two versions of the document accusing Senator Ita Enang, Senate aide of distributing a doctored version of the budget different from what the president submitted to senators.