President Buhari forwarded the MTEF and FSP in a letter addressed to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.

In the letter read by Lawan on Wednesday at Plenary,  President Buhari said the 2020 to 2022 MTEF/FSP was prepared taking into account key developments in the global and domestic environment.

He said the timely consideration would facilitate the 2020 budget proposal preparations by the executive.

Buhari thanked the national assembly for the much improved partnership between it and the executive.

He said the Preparation for the 2020 budget proposal to the national assembly was progressing well.

According to him, MTEF and FSP documents were prepared with considerations on key development in the global and domestic environments.

Buhari said the executive was committed to returning the budget implementation to a predictable January to December budget cycle .

The senate also inaugurated the 69 standing committees.

Lawan in his remark after the inauguration said the occasion was a departure from previous ways of inaugurating committees.

“We have resorted to this in order to save precious time.

“The senate received the MTEF, this morning.

“As the preparations for the Appropriation 2020 is on top gear, and could be received soon, our committees need to be ready to perform their functions.

“Time, therefore, is of essence.”

He said the committees were the engine rooms of the activities of national assembly, noting that effective and efficient performance of the committees was imperative .

He said Nigeria was facing the challenges of insecurity, and huge unemployment of the youth, among other problems.

He, however, said the country was blessed with abundant agricultural land.

“We are similarly endowed with abundant solid minerals in all parts of our country.

“The oil and gas resources have remained our major source of revenue.

“Distinguished colleagues, our challenges can be appropriately addressed with our rich endowments. What we require therefore is the strategic deployment of those resources.”

“We need to also focus on human capital development.

“It is inevitable that we have to improve government investments in education and health, if we want to create the critical mass of work force for the knowledge based economy of present times”.

“It is the desire, indeed the design of this senate that, the Petroleum Industry Bill is passed before the end of 2020.”

He said there was the urgent need for better funding of the security agencies for improved performance to combat insecurity in the country.

“As security is a fundamental responsibility of government, no amount of investment is too much”.

He said the committees would undertake regular oversights to ensure government programmes and projects are properly executed for the benefit of the citizens.

“Our target is to achieve the set goals of taking Nigeria to the next level.”(NAN)