The House of Representatives has raised concerns over comments allegedly credited to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma.

The matter came up during plenary on Thursday as a matter of privilege sponsored by Chika Adamu, seeking an apology from the minister and a retraction of the purported statement.

Senator Udoma was said to have accused the National Assembly of frustrating the presentation of the 2019 Appropriation Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The majority leader of the House, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, informed his colleagues that the minister claimed to have been quoted out of context.

But the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara ruled that the minister be given time to retract or clarify the statement.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning issued a statement in which it faulted the reports that the Senator Udoma blamed the lawmakers for the delay in the presentation of the budget.

Contrary to the reports, the minister’s media adviser, Akpandem James, explained that there was no time that Udoma gave an impression of any dispute between the lawmakers and the executive.

He stated that the minister stressed during a media chat that the executive would follow due process in the presentation of the budget.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2018/12/14/delayed-2019-budget-reps-demand-apology-minister-alleged-comments/