Special
Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy
Emordi, on Thursday confirmed that there had been disagreements between
the Presidency and the National Assembly over the 2013 budget recently
passed by the Senate.
However, Emordi was
confident that the rift would be resolved in such a way that it would
not adversely affect implementation of the budget.
The presidential aide
spoke with State House correspondents after a meeting with President
Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
She said, “You know that
even husband and wife do have disagreements. There is no way that you
can expect the two arms of government not to disagree, but the most
important thing is how they deal with the issues at the end of the day.
And you can see that in
most of the issues, even after the disagreements, they always resort to
dialogue and come to one position that will be acceptable to all in the
interests of the nation.”
On the lawmakers’ complaint that Jonathan treats National Assembly resolutions with disdain, Emordi said it was not true.
She said, “There must be
issues, but the most important thing is that they are working for the
common interest of Nigerians. On the resolutions, yes, there might be
issues but at the end of the day those issues were also resolved or are
in the process of being resolved.”
She assured Nigerians that the President would sign the 2013 budget “very soon”.