The House of Representatives on Wednesday resolved to meet with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, over the falling crude oil price at the international market.
The Federal Government has severally tinkered with crude oil benchmark as prices of crude oil prices have overshot various scenarios built by the government. Crude oil prices which were above $100 about seven months ago, have decelerated by more than half that price.
It went as low as $49 per barrel, though hope of rebound came this week as prices have nudged up to $63.
Nigeria,s economy is anchored on earnings from crude oil sales, and the recent development have spawn serious gyration in the fortunes of the economy.
At the House’s plenary on Wednesday, a special committee was constituted to represent the lawmakers at the meeting.
The challenges surrounding the sliding oil price are some of the primary reasons the 2015 budget of the Federal Government is yet to be passed by the National Assembly.
To discuss the issue, the House went into a closed executive session, lasting three hours.
After the closed door meeting, the House decided to set up a meeting with the Minister of Finance and the budget office to iron out grey areas on the budget towards a speedy passage.
The date for the meeting was not disclosed.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, presented the 2015 budget estimates of about 4.3 trillion Naira before the National Assembly on December 17 2014.
She laid the document in separate appearances before the Senate and the House of Representatives.
There was not a joint sitting of the two chambers which has been the tradition, as President Goodluck Jonathan already delegated Okonjo-Iweala to present the estimates on his behalf.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy was accompanied to the National Assembly with a retinue of other ministers and the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu.
No speeches were made during the ceremony, which was quite brief.
After the presentation of the budget, the Minister of Finance, gave a breakdown of the budget to key players in the finance sector.
According to the Minister, N633 billion is for capital expenditure while N261 billion is for recurrent.
Although this year’s budget comes at a time when oil prices has been on the decline, she said necessary measures had been taken to mitigate any negative effects on the masses.
She announced a $65 oil benchmark price for the 2015 budget, a figure that the House had expressed concerns over.
Delinerations on budget have been hampered by the current election cycle as most members of the two chambers of the National Assembly are busy jostling for their re-election. For the House of Representatives it has been on recess since November last year and only resumed for business this week.
