President of the Sen­ate, Abubakar Bu­kola Saraki has set up a 15-man committee on Budget Reforms aimed at ensuring greater scru­tiny, openness and creat­ing time roadmaps that would lead to the passage and implementation of the national budgets.
The budget reforms committee include heads of five membership com­mittees of the Senate, Sen Mohammed Ali Ndume, Appropriation, Sen Mo­hammed Danjuma Goje, Sen Baba Kaka Garba, Chairman House com­mittee on Rules and Business, and Minister of Budget, Sen Udoma Udo Udoma.
The committee is to be assisted by a 10-man tech­nical committee led by Di­rector General, National Institute of Legislative Studies, Dr Ladi Hamalai.
Speaking at the inaugu­ration of the committees, Saraki noted that over the years the nation’s budget had been subjected to un­due criticism by the two arms of government and the Nigerian public lead­ing to the resolve of his ad­ministration to establish a budget Reforms Commit­tee.
He said: “For us in the 8th National Assembly we are ready to open a new chapter and lay a new foundation on which an effective budget process can be built. This is the task on our hands.