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- The President may have initiated peace talks with the leadership of the National Assembly aimed at resolving the disagreements over the 2014 budget.
- He advised the Senate and the House to harmonise their positions on it before he could present the estimates of the budget.
- The House is more vocal on the issue now because the Presidency seems to be comfortable with the $76.5 adopted by the Senate.
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President Goodluck Jonathan may have initiated peace talks with the leadership of the National Assembly aimed at resolving the disagreements over the 2014 budget.
The development came barely 24 hours after Jonathan cancelled his scheduled visit to the National Assembly earlier on Tuesday to present the estimates of the budget to a joint session of the legislature.
The crude oil benchmark proposed for the budget in the 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper is the bone of contention.
Jonathan had initially proposed $74 per barrel of crude, but was later favourably disposed towards the $76.5 passed by the Senate.
However, the House rejected the $76.5 and passed $79 as the benchmark.
The President had claimed, in a letter to the leadership of the National Assembly, that the benchmark dispute was the reason he put off the visit.
He advised the Senate and the House to harmonise their positions on it before he could present the estimates of the budget.
However, separate accounts indicated that he did so to avoid being booed by the lawmakers, especially those in the camps of the Peoples Democratic Party rebel governors and their counterparts in the opposition parties.
But, findings on Wednesday showed that the President had invited the President of the Senate, David Mark; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal; and the entire leadership of the National Assembly to a peace meeting next week.
The meeting, scheduled for 9pm, will be held at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
A top lawmaker, who will attend the meeting, in Abuja on Wednesday that it was part of the ongoing efforts to douse the tension between the National Assembly and the President.
He said, “It is part of the process to resolve the benchmark dispute. At the meeting, parties will talk more on the issue.
“The House is more vocal on the issue now because the Presidency seems to be comfortable with the $76.5 adopted by the Senate.
“The idea is to create a peaceful atmosphere for the President to present the budget next week.”
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, had said on Tuesday that the Senate and the House would meet to reconcile their different positions on the benchmark “in a few days’ time.”
He had argued that the House, which on Wednesday approved N61.3bn as the 2013 budget of the Nigerian Communications Commission, was not against Jonathan coming to the National Assembly to present the budget estimates.
Mohammed had said, “What is left for us as a House is to appoint a conference committee to meet with the Senate in a few days’ time to harmonise the differences.”
Meanwhile, the Senate has inaugurated a six-member conference committee to harmonise the benchmark with the House.
The President of the Senate, David Mark, announced the composition of the committee during the plenary.
He said the team which has Ahmed Makarfi as chairman, would sit with a similar committee in the House to “jointly decide an acceptable benchmark for crude oil in the 2014 fiscal year.”
Other members of the Senate Committee are senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, Ita Enang, Smart Adeyemi , Ayo Akinyelure and Bello Tukur.
He said the early completion of the task would facilitate the passage of the MTEF and the Fiscal Strategy Papers and consequently, pave the way for the presentation of budget proposal to the National Assembly by Jonathan.
