TheCable

Pally Iriase, deputy whip of the house of representatives, says there is still time for President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the 2017 budget into law.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Iriase said the 30 days within which the president is expected to sign the budget had not elapsed.

“You should not be surprised because budget in a presidential system is always a controversial thing to deal with,” he said.

“US is regarded as the bastion of democracy, isn’t it? But you know that the US economy has suffered because of disagreements here and there, but that is not the situation here… after the passage of the budget, if you’ve started counting, I’m not sure we have gone beyond the prerequisite 30 days.

“The president is still within time… They are doing their own analysis and they are making their own consultation. You can go wrong in making consultations.”

He added that in commemoration of its second anniversary, the house would on Friday hold a special session where its legislative agenda would be appraised.

On May 5, 2017, the 2016 budget expired after it ran for 12 months.

The budget had generated a lot of controversies before Buhari gave assent to it.