FEC to hold emergency meeting Monday over MTEF

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An emergency meeting of the Federal Executive Council may hold on Monday.

The major agenda of the meeting to be presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari is to approve the Medium Term Expenditure Framework in preparation for the presentation of the 2016 Budget.

That will be the second time the council will be meeting having held its maiden meeting on November 13 shortly after the 36 ministers were inaugurated.

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, confirmed to State House correspondents on Saturday that his ministry would be seeking FEC’s approval for the MTEF next week, although he did not give a specific date.
Udoma spoke with journalists shortly after Vice President Yemi Osinbajo visited the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa where officials working on the 2016 Budget have been working.

He said the government was working hard to ensure that the budget was ready before the end of the year.

He said, “This administration is introducing zero-based budgeting which means that every activity must be justified in accordance with the principle of this administration.

“We have camped people here to do data clean-up and integrity checking in preparation for the budget.

“We invited the Vice President to come and see what we are doing.

“When we finish this process, we will then start the bilaterals: discussing with the various MDAs.

“Next week, we will get approval from council for the MTEF. After that, we will have numbers to give them.

“So we are working very hard to ensure that the budget is out before the end of the year.”
The MTEF, which is the precursor to the annual budget, is supposed ‎to be presented to the National Assembly and approved four months before the commencement of the next financial year.

There has been criticisms over the delay in submitting the document to the National Assembly

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Solomon Ita-Enang, had on Friday told journalists that the President had not breached the law.

Briefing journalists at the National Assembly, Ita-Enang said Buhari would soon submit the MTEF and the 2016 budget proposal to the National Assembly.

Part II (Section 11 (1b) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 states: “The Federal Government shall not later than four months before the commencement of the next financial year, cause to be prepared a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for the next three financial years.”

Ita-Enang in defending the Presidency over the delay said: “There is no violation at all. It’s within what is allowed by the law. Read the Act. Read the Act again. It says ‘between’ ‘and’. So, read the Act again. We are not in violation at all. The Presidency is still in order.”

Source: Punch