Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; her counterpart in Power, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, and 56 other stakeholders are expected to partake in the National Assembly’s joint session scheduled to commence today.

Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAS, Budget Office, civil society groups, among other critical stakeholders, are also expected to be part of both legislative sessions from today through Wednesday this week.

This was designed to enshrine transparency in the budgetary process in Nigeria and stem the ugly incidence of budget padding as seen in the 2016 budget process.

Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Abdulrazaq Namdas, revealed this in a chat with journalists on Sunday.

According to him, the whole exercise was designed to enshrine transparency in the budgetary process in Nigeria and restore confidence in the appropriation processes of both legislative chambers.

He said: “This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that we are involving such stakeholders, all in a bid to ensure that Nigerians have confidence in the whole process.

“The inputs of the stakeholders will go a long way in making the whole process transparent, thereby allaying the fears of Nigerians from any wrong doing from our own side.

On the 18 bills assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, Namdas said 17 of the bills emanated from the House, while the Senate passed one.

“Again, we have eight bills that are on the verge of being endorsed by Mr President and out of these, the House passed seven.

Vanguard