2020 budget: NASS suspends holiday to consider revised appropriation bill

- The federal lawmakers will on Thursday, May 28, reconvene to address the amended 2020 appropriation bill

- The move becomes necessary as the government begins channelling concentrated efforts towards the reality of Covid-19 crisis

- FG had in April cut down the 2020 budget by over N320 billion and proposed a new budget of about N10.3 trillion as scourge strikes harder

PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed!

National Assembly (NASS), the legislative arm of the country, has put its holiday on hold in order to reconvene and consider the 2020 revised budget on Thursday, May 28.

The development was contained in a memo dated Tuesday, May 26, addressed to members of the two chambers by Mohammed Sani-Omolori, the NASS clerk.

Legit.ng recalls that the 2020 appropriation bill had successfully scaled through the legislative hurdle but an outbreak of coronavirus necessitated the move to review the budget as the country faces the economic reality of the scourge.

Governors meet over President Buhari's financial autonomy to state legislature, judiciary

Nigeria currently has 8,344 cases of coronavirus, 2385 recoveries and 249 deaths after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced 276 cases on Tuesday.

With the government cutting down its budget amid pandemic, the lawmakers have been reported to be eyeing a return into the chamber on Thursday to reconsider the reviewed budget, Premium Times reports.

The lawmakers' return was earlier scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, but collective concentrated efforts by government across tiers will see the NASS complex reopen two days after the Eid-Fitr public holiday.

The federal government had in April bit down the 2020 budget by over N320 billion and proposed a new budget of about N10.3 trillion against the N10.6 trillion previously passed NASS.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that as the reality of coronavirus beckoned, the federal government on Thursday, April 2, took a giant stride by slashing the National Assembly (NASS) budget by N25.6 billion.

Breaking: We’ll pilot e-voting in 2021 over COVID-19 - INEC declares

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the economy partially deadened with government across levels resulting in reconsideration of the fiscal policy.

Earlier, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the 'repositioning of the economy' in a way that would respond to the realities of the global pandemic.

4 ways Nigerians are dealing with the COVID 19 lockdown | Legit TV