Senate says its open to restore Lagos-Calabar rail project into 2016 budget

The Nigerian Senate says it is open to restore the controversial Lagos-Calabar rail project into the 2016 budget if the Federal government sends in a supplementary budget. Spokesperson of the senate, Abdullahi Sabi, stated this while speaking to journalists at the National Assembly today April 12th.

The Presidency and the National Assembly members have been at loggerheads in the last 48 hours after a source in the Presidency alleged that the lawmakers fraudulently removed the project from the budget. The senate in a statement it released yesterday, denied the claims and also asked for the resignation of Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi. Read what the senate spokesperson said about the matter below…

“What we issued yesterday is our position. What we did today was to confirm. I will definitely remain guided by the tenets of the constitution.

That the Lagos-Calabar project was not in the budget does not undermine its importance. The national assembly is open; whenever the executive brings the supplementary budget regarding the project, it will be honoured. But we must remain guided by the constitution. That we pass the budget has not ended our responsibility. We have to move to oversight functions.

We know it is an important project and we are ready to honour it. The way forward is that we have passed budget, and we are saying bring a supplementary appropriation bill.”