The Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Teslim Folarin, has assured Nigerians that the present National Assembly will work assiduously to stick to the January to December period for the budget if the Appropriation bill is presented early to the two chambers.
Folarin who spoke with journalists in Ibadan, also said the Senate, under the leadership of Senator Ahmad Lawan, was worried about the level of insecurity in the country and would do everything possible to address the country’s security architecture.
According to the former Senate Leader, as soon as the 2020 Appropriation Bill was presented to the National Assembly, the Senate would begin work on it immediately.
He stated that it would be passed before the Senate went on Christmas recess.
His words: “The Senate President has continued to say that the present Senate would work for the people and it is in this direction that the National Assembly owes Nigerians a duty to pass the 2020 Appropriation Bill before we go on Christmas recess as the executive has promised to send it before the end of this month.”
Folarin, while kicking against the plan by the Federal Government to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT), insisted that what the government needed to do first was to provide enabling environment to make businesses thrive in the country.
He added that both the executive and the National Assembly would work together to ease the burden of the masses to create enabling environment for small and medium businesses.
He said that he was optimisic that after the completion of the Mambila hydro power plant the issue of epileptic power supply would be a thing of the past.
On security, he maintained that something was wrong somewhere considering the fact that during the electioneering process, there was no single attack from herdsmen or other bandits but immediately after the election the attack surfaced again.
Said he: “The issue of insecurity is a serious concern to all of us at the National Assembly; basically it would paralyse the economy as well as cause loss of lives and property. Thus, it is a top priority on our agenda.
“I want to say here that something is wrong somewhere, we could recall that during the electioneering process, there was no single attack from anywhere but immediately after the election, the attack re-surfaced again.
“I will appeal to all necessary quarters as the situation calls for investigation and anyone found wanting should be brought to book.
“What we would do at the National Assembly is to provide enabling environment by making funds available to all security agencies.
“The 8th National Assembly convened security Summit, and what we would do is to avoid repetition; we would just dust their report and carry out all what is necessary and expected of us.”
