From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the National Assembly to give accelerated consideration and passage of the Money Laundering and Prevention Bill of 2016, Bills for Acts for domestication of agreements for avoidance of double taxation between Nigeria and South Korea, Spain and Sweden respectively, Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016, the Federal Capital Territory Appropriation Bill, 2016 and Statutory Budget of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), 2016.
Buhari said the Federal Capital Territory Appropriation Bill, 2016 and Statutory Budget of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), 2016, in particular, cannot execute their statutory mandate or incur expenditure for the year unless their budgets are approved by the National Assembly.
In a short address at the presidential dinner in honour of National Assembly members which he hosted at the State House Conference Centre, the president commended the lawmakers for painstakingly working in consensus with the executive in passing the 2016 Appropriation Act.
“It is on record that, this is one rare occasion where the Appropriation Act was assented to with the schedule (the details). This is a good start in our journey of change.”
The president also said the several bills passed have enabled government function according to the law.
“Therefore, I, as the president, and we, as the executive arm of government, will not interfere in the functions, functioning and process of the legislature nor the judiciary. In the same vein, I urge other arms of government to please, appraise and ensure that each action conceived and taken by it is in strict accord with its constitutionally limited powers.
“I urge you as legislators and the legislature to take out time and communicate with your constituents and other Nigerians, the policies of the government which are based on laws approved by the National Assembly.”
Earlier in his remarks, Senate President, Bukola Saraki thanked the president for the dinner and said it was not easy for the country to go through 17 years of uninterrupted democracy noting that, “it shows that our democracy has matured.
“We will request for more and more of this kind of interaction…”
Now that the budget has been released, the food will be more sumptuous. It will strengthen our relationship with the executive and solidify the democracy of our country.”
Others in attendance were National Chairman, John Oyegun of the All Progressive Congress (APC), National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and Segun Oni, among others.