* C’ttee to Assess Impact of Coronavirus on 2020 Budget
Following the impact of the ravaging Coronavirus on the global Crude oil Market, the Senate, Tuesday set up a joint Commitee to assess the impact on the country’s economy, especially the 2020.budget.
The Joint Committee is made up of Senate four Standing Committees.
The Joint Committee is saddled with the responsibility of revisiting the crude oil benchmark price of $53 per barrel used to prepare the 2020 budget. The Committee will engage the Executive and outside the government especially those in the finance sector as well as those controlling the economy, with a view to preparing for any eventuality.
Announcing the Composition of the Committee, President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan gave the Committee next week Tuesday to submit at Plenary the first report.
The Committee which will particularly engage the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning as well as other very relevant Ministries, is to come up with strategies on how to get it right, especially the crashing global economy.
The Senate joint Commitee are Finance, Appropriations, National Planning and Petroleum( Downstream), with finance leading.
Finance Committee is chaired by Senator Solomon Adeola, All Progressives Congress, APC, Lagos West; Appropriations is chaired by Senator Barau Jibrin, APC, Kano North, National Planning Committee is chaired by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, APC, Ekiti North while Petroleum Resources Downstream has Senator Sabo Mohammed, APC, Jigawa South- West as the chairman.
Position of the Senate was sequel to a point of Order raised by the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, APC, Kebbi North.
The Senate Leader who came under Order 43 drew the attention of the Senate to the global economic downturn where Nigeria as a country is not an exception, adding that the Country must prepare for the eventuality.
According to the Senate, it became imperative to come up with such a Committee because the 2020 budget was predicated on crude oil bench of $57 per barrel and daily production capacity of 2.1 million barrels per day but there is a crash of crude oil price in the international market from $53 per barrel last week to $35 per barrel.