Buhari to present 2023 budget to NASS October – Gbajabiamila

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to present the 2023 budget estimates to a joint session of the National Assembly in the first week of next month, Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said.

The Speaker, who was responding to questions from reporters on Wednesday after inspecting ongoing renovation works in the House was however silent on the modality the budget presentation would take.

“I am hoping that the budget will be presented latest by the first week of October,” he said.

Both the Senate and the House Committee on Finance are currently holding interactive sessions with government agencies on the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

Buhari presented the 2022 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on October 7, 2021.

Renovation inside the chamber of the House which is usually used for the joint session was still at preliminary stage on Wednesday without any indication that it will be ready in the next six months.

Gbajabiamila, however, called for the speedy completion of the ongoing renovation ahead of the delivery deadline of last month, while confirming that the Chamber may also not be ready for the inauguration of the 10th Assembly in June 2023.

He said that speedy completion of the work must, however, not compromise the quality of the work to be delivered, adding that though the renovation, which began last month, had progressed well, he would still ask the project managers to speed up the pace and beat the deadline.

At the chamber, Gbajabiamila was briefed on the details of the upgrade and the adjustments to be made to the sitting areas of lawmakers, the chamber staff, the presiding officers, the press gallery, the roof and the adjoining rooms to the chamber.

Gbajabiamila said the changes introduced were “impressive” and would greatly assist the lawmakers in their legislative duties in line with global standards, saying: “This work started in August, a few weeks behind schedule, but for a good reason. So far between August and now, giant strides have been made; you can see the whole chamber has been ripped apart, and the innovations are going to be state-of-the-art.

“We will be proud to have a chamber that matches the best standard all over the world; so I am quite impressed with the work so far. I would encourage them to double the pace because, as it is, this is not for the benefit of the 9th Assembly but for the benefit of the 10th Assembly.

“The whole chamber isn’t going to be ready until sometime in August next year; so we are talking close to a year and that tells you the level of work that is going on.”