By Jonas Ike
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has stated the need for Nigeria to return to a January-December budget cycle, saying that the National Assembly would accelerate work on the 2020 Appropriation Bill being presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Lawan, in his opening address at the budget presentation ceremony on Tuesday, urged the ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government to appear before the National Assembly committees to defend their budget proposals as contained in the bill.
Consequently, the Senate President said all budget defence sessions would be concluded in October, other legislative processes would be done on the bill in November, while the lawmakers had planned to pass the budget in December.