Former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, as well as former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Masari, both held a close-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday to fashion out a way to end the subtle was between the executive and the legislative arms of government over the 2016 budget.
The meeting was held inside the President’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Nnamani recently dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while Masari is the current governor of Katsina.
There had been growing hardship in the country while government’s activities have at their low over the budget reportedly padded with items by both arms of the National Assembly.
The duo later told journalists that part of their discussion with the President had to do with the budget and Nnamani added that both the Executive and the Legislature must always collaborate to have a proper budget.
“Budget is an area where we practise what we call co-management between the National Assembly and the Executive branch of government. Both of them co-manage the economy through the budget.
“It is a peculiar area, both of them will have to cooperate and collaborate for a proper budget to be passed and once it is passed, it becomes law.
“So as it stands today, the situation is such that the National Assembly has to do what is called introspection. How did we get to where we are now?
“The year is running out and we are still talking about 2016 budget; where is the fault from?
“Wherever it is coming from, both the Executive branch and the Legislature must find a quick solution to it. It does nobody good to drag it any longer,” Nnamani said adding it is an area of co-management and must not be left to the Executive or the National Assembly alone.
He expressed optimism that his advice would be considered by the President but did not give details of the advice.
Asked if he had finally decided to join the All Progressives Congress, Nnamani said: “I will not join a party in secret. When it is time I am joining any party, I will make it public. Today, I am bipartisan.”
While speaking also, Masari, who gave the impression that he would not have signed the budget since he was not sure of its content, added: “you know I am now an executive and I signed budget for Katsina State and before I did that, I made sure I knew what I am signing for. So take it as I have said.”
Speaking on the forthcoming economic and development summit being organised by his state, Masari said: “”there was a time Katsina was entirely dependent on its natural resources, those resources are still there and I believe that we are sensitising the general public and the world to know that there are lots of opportunities in Katsina and in Katsina with proper investment.
“We believe we can make it, we believe we can survive on the natural resources and agriculture and other resources that abound in Nigeria.
“So, that is why we have tagged this economic and development summit, but also we are refocusing to encourage our own local investors. Those who have N100,000 to invest can make more money than leaving the money in the bank.
“Essentially, our focus will be on agriculture and cultivation of selected crops and we are focusing on the natural ginger.
“We are focusing on the area of irrigated agriculture in the area of rice, cotton and other crops, we also have gold and diamond in Katsina but what we can lay our hands now is in the area of agriculture.”
