The National Assembly on Wednesday denied claims that it had not sent the 2013 budget to President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, said the budget was sent to the President on December 21.
The Senate Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba(SAN), also confirmed that the budget was sent to the President on December 21.
The Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, had told a national newspaper that the delay in transmitting the budget to the President was stalling its signing into law.
She had said, "Let us not jump the gun. The President is ready to fast track the signing of the budget, but there is no way he can sign what he has not seen.
"The National Assembly has not transmitted the details of the budget. Unti he sees the budget, it would be inappropriate to expect him to sign it."
But Ndoma-Egba insisted that it was possible that Emodi was not aware that the budget had been transmitted due to the holidays.
He said, "As far we are concerned, we have forwarded the budget to the President. From our records, the budget was transmitted on December 21."
Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media said the National Assembly was a responsible institution which had the best interest of Nigerians at heart.
He said, "To the best of my knowledge, the National Assembly has done its own part. The budget was transmitted to President on December 21, 2012."
The Presidency and the Senate have said there was no controversy over the 2013 budget as due process was being followed.
The House of Representatives also said it was not possible that the budget, which was passed since December 20, would still be with the National Assembly.
Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Victor Ogene, explained that the normal practice was to use the bureaucratic channels of the National Assembly to "forward the budget to Mr. President."
He said, "The Senate and the House passed the same version of the budget; the Senate Leader (Ndoma-Egba) has even told you that the budget was sent.
"We didn't have to hand-carry it to Mr. President; bureaucratic channels were used to forward the budget to the Presidency."
When contacted on Wednesday, Emodi said a summary of the budget had been sent to the Presidency.
Our correspondents gathered that details of Emodi figures for ministries, parastatals and agencies were still being compiled for onward transmission.
Emodi said, "The National Assembly and the Executive deserve commendation for the sense of urgency they both attached to the passage of the budget.
"The President is not refusing to sign as some have claimed, even though the summary of the budget has been transmitted, he is waiting for the details.
"The details are still being put together by the relevant committees of the National Assembly.
"What is left is the detail which I believe will be ready by next week and will be transmitted to Mr. President to go through and sign."
The lawmakers had raised the oil benchmark from $75 submitted by the President to $79.
The budget is made up of N387.9bn for statutory transfers and N591.7 bn for debt services.
