Nigeria: Senate Worries Over 2011 Budget Delay

The Senate has expressed worry over the delay by the executive arm of government to present the 2011 budget estimates for consideration.
Briefing newsmen yesterday on the issue, Chairman Senate Committee on Information and Media, Senator Ayogu Eze (PDP, Enugu North) said the Senate expects the executive to hasten up the process of preparing the budget estimates in order to avoid late passage.

According to him "It is desirable if the executive can conclude work on the 2011 budget and send it now, because I know that at the end of the day if there are delays, the National Assembly would be blamed where as Nigerians are more comfortable in blaming the National Assembly than blaming any other person.
"But I think that we want to call on the executive to see how they can speed up action and bring the budget. If they bring it early we will pass it early, the problem of implementation and performance will also improve because if we start early, procurement process will start early and everything will be on course. It is running a bit late and we want to use this opportunity to say that if we can get it a bit early, good enough."
Eze said late presentation of the budget by the executive will not augur well for the economy.