The Senate has reduced the number of Federal Government officials who will accompany President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly on Thursday for the presentation of the 2021 Appropriation Bill.
Senator Ahmed Lawan, the Senate President, disclosed this during plenary at the upper chamber on Wednesday.
President Buhari is expected to present the 2021 national budget estimates to the joint session of the federal parliament on Thursday.
According to Lawan, only people relevant to the budget preparation will be granted access to the National Assembly in order to observe preventive measures against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Senate President also announced that the joint session will happen at the chamber of the House of Representatives.
He said: ‘This time around because of the situation of COVID-19 pandemic, we have made arrangements to observe social distancing in the chamber.
“We also have to wear or face masks mandatorily. We are going to also abridge the entire event because we will be many there.
“So the entire event will last just about an hour. From the entry of the President into the chamber and addresses and the presentation and laying will be just an hour event.
“This is done so that we would be able to comply with the requirements of the COVID-19 protocol.
“Mr. President this time around will not be accompanied by many people on the entourage.
“Only a few people – very key and relevant to the budget – will accompany Mr. President into the chamber.
” I think by the arrangement those of them that have little to do with the budget will join virtually what will happen.”
The Federal Executive Council had last Wednesday approved a budget estimate of N13.08 trillion for the 2021 fiscal year.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.
The minister said the budget proposal was predicated on $379 exchange rate, oil benchmark of $40 barrel per day and oil production volume of 1.86 million per day.
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