Senate bars Jonathan from presenting 2013 budget

Indications emerged weekend that the Senate will not allow President Goodluck Jonathan to present the 2013 budget this Thursday as earlier intended.The chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita S Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-East), told journalists in Abuja on Saturday that the Senate could not receive the 2013 budget from the president while the Accountant-General of the Federation has not provided the details of the funds released so far to the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the 2012 budget.According to the lawmaker, before receiving the 2013 budget from the president, the Senate has to take a decision on the submission recently made by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to the Senate Joint Committee on Appropriation, Finance and Public Accounts on the level of the implementation of the 2012 budget.'For us to receive the 2013 budget, we should have independent knowledge from our committees about the extent of the implementation of the 2012 budget,' he said.
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