Senator Ita Enang

The Presidency on Friday in Abuja, said it would transmit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) Presidency to the National Assembly some time, next week.

Sen. Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), disclosed this in an interaction with newsmen.
Enang said that the presidency had not flouted the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, and explained that President Muhammadu Buhari was acting within the law.

“No violation at all; it is within what is allowed by law. Read the Act; we are not in violation at all,” he said.

He said the Act stated that Federal Government “shall not later than four months before the commencement of the next financial year, cause to be prepared a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for the next three financial years”.

Assuring that MTEF and FSP would be transmitted to the National Assembly next week, Enang said that the transmission would be immediately followed by a correspondence for the president to state exactly when the budget would be presented.

“I want to assure you that in the next few days, Mr President will forward the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Fiscal Strategy Paper to the National Assembly.

“The National Assembly will consider it and in the course of it, Mr President will communicate to the National Assembly the date on which the 2016 budget will be laid.

“You know that it is normally preceded by a letter from the president requesting the date and the letter will soon be issued.

“The letter will communicate the date, and it is definite that it will be within the constitutional period,” he said.

The president’s aide said that the relationship between the executive and the legislature was cordial as exemplified in the quick approval of the supplementary budget by the lawmakers.