The House of Representatives says the National Assembly will on March 17 pass the 2016 Appropriation Bill totalling N6.08 trillion.

The House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, Abdulmumini Jibrin, told newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja that the Appropriation Committees of both the chambers of the National Assembly had received the reports of budget defences of ministries, departments, and agencies from all the standing committees.

According to him, the Senate and the House of Representatives will harmonise the positions after going through their checklists to ensure that all the reports were in line with the guidelines provided by both the arms.

“We can confirm to you that all things being equal we should be able to lay our report of 2016 Appropriation Bill before the House and the Senate before the 16th of March 2016.

“And of course the consideration should be done on 17th of March 2017.

“So it is safe for us to conclude that the 2016 Appropriation Bill will be passed on the 17th of March 2016.”

He said that the committee would meet with the ministers of finance, budget and national planning, the central bank governor, the accountant-general of the federation and the director-general of the budget office “to start the process of ironing out whatever grey areas that are still left behind in order for us to get the job done’’.

NAN