Strong indications have emerged that the leadership of the Senate and the Presidency have reached a deal on the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper earlier rejected by the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
A source close to the leadership of the Senate said this was the fallout of the meetings between President Muhammadu Buhari; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
It was learnt on Sunday that the Senate, which returned the MTEF and FSP to the Presidency last week, had accepted to receive a detailed version of the document from the Executive this week.
The source said the preparation of the 2017 budget and the proposed $29.96bn external borrowing would be fast-tracked by the legislature.
Saraki had met with Buhari three times last week during which the issues of the MTEF and FSP as well as the foreign loan were raised.
The source further said the meetings between the leadership of the National Assembly and the Presidency were called to bridge the gap between the legislature and the executive.
Confirming the development, the Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, told our correspondent on the telephone on Saturday that the matters would be resolved this week.
Ndume had described the MTEF and FSP sent to the Senate by Buhari for legislative approval as “empty” due to missing details in the document.
“We will deal with the issues this week by God’s grace,” he said.
When asked if the Senate had got a positive response from the Presidency on the issues, he said, “Yes, of course.”
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