The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Danjuma Goje has said the 2016 Appropriation Act expires on Friday.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that this is despite the fact that the 2017 Appropriation Bill is yet to be passed by the National Assembly.
Goje said the budget would run for 12 months in line with Section 318 of the constitution, starting from when it was signed into law to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The clarification became necessary in view of the anxiety over the expiration of the 2016 budget. It will expire on May 5 and not March 31st,” he said.
But the National Assembly has yet to pass the 2017 bill, which the President is expected to sign into law before Friday or there may be a vacuum in the government’s fiscal administration of the country.
Goje had said shortly before the lawmakers went on a two-week Easter break on April 11 that the 2017 budget would be ready by May 5 to beat the deadline provided by the 2016 Appropriation Act, which was signed into law on May 5, 2016.
The National Assembly had last week indicated its plan to pass the budget this week, which was confirmed by Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan.
Should the legislature pass the budget and President Muhammadu Buhari fails to pass it into law before Friday, the Federal Government might opt for the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that this is line with the dictates of the 1999 constitution. Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that the Federal Government can draw funds from the Consolidated Revenue Account if the budget is not ready for a period not exceeding six months or the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act.