The 8th Senate will on Monday hold a first-of-its-kind public hearing on
the 2017 Appropriation Bill submitted to the legislature by President Muhammadu
Buhari.
According to a statement by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and
Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the Public Hearing is aimed at allowing
stakeholders and members of the public to make contributions to the proposed
legislation before passage by the National Assembly.
Over the past week, the Senate has suspended regular plenary sessions in
order to give all committees an opportunity to conduct adequate oversight and
for ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government to defend
the allocations included in the estimates submitted to the legislature by
President Muhammadu Buhari.
The joint public hearing will push the budget defense a step further by
allowing members of the public to weigh-in constructively on ways to improve
the appropriations bill.
“This will be the first time something like this is happening,” Abdullahi
said, “It’s a testament to the leadership and foresight of the Senate
President, and the commitment of the 8th Senate as a whole to ensure that the
budget is passed transparently — with adequate feedback from the general
public.”
The Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, stated that the
historic public hearing on the budget was aimed at ensuring more citizen-participation
in the legislative processes.
“We will continue to create platforms such as these, that will allow the
general public to play a role in what we do here,” the Senate President said,
“Moving forward, the public can expect that we will continue this practice of
having an open budget hearing where every-day Nigerians are primary
contributors.”
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