The Senate President made the disclosure on Friday in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital while speaking to newsmen, saying “we are working hard to try and see whether we will meet the end of February, that is our target”. Senator Saraki explained that “we are looking straight to the public procurement law, because some times after passing the budget there is a lot of bureaucracy”. According to the Senate president, the National Assembly would scrutinise the budget, carry out all its legislative responsibility and ensure speedy passage of the budget to allow Federal Government to start delivering dividends of democracy to Nigerians. Senator Saraki also assured Nigerians that the sharp drop in oil prices would not affect the budget, urging them to feel at ease. He maintained that “On the issue of the Federal Government budget, there is no cause for alarm, as it was designed not depend on oil revenue.” The president of the Senate added that “if you look at the budget, the Federal Government has designed it to depend on non-oil revenue for the first time in our recent history, the oil revenue is below 50 percent in the budget, so the dwindling price cannot change anything in it.” He, therefore, debunked the rumour doing the rounds that the Senate is planning to effect changes in the budget, adding that the National Assembly would do everything possible to see that the budget meets the expectation of Nigerians. Senator Saraki enjoined Nigerians to be hopeful. “None of us would predict the price of oil, it is not only in Nigeria it is all over the world.”]]>