By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

The hope of passing the 2016 federal budget by the middle of next month rose, yesterday, after the Presidency and the National Assembly reached a compromise on the grey areas that had raised dust these past weeks.

The budget, which was originally slated for passage by the National Assembly on  February 25, was stepped down by the lawmakers, who claimed that it had serious discrepancies and could not be passed.

Vanguard has, however, learned that the areas of concern raised by the NASS had been resolved by the lawmakers and members of the executive who met for the second time within two weeks on Tuesday night to find a common ground.

A top source at the meeting confirmed to Vanguard that the relevant heads of Finance and Appropriation in the NASS and heads of revenue-generating MDAs took part in the meeting, which sat almost through the night.

The meeting was also attended by the ministers of Finance, Planning and Budget and their permanent secretaries.

One of the officials who attended the meeting said that all issues related to the budget had been resolved based on the need to move the nation’s economy forward.

“Everybody has seen the need to get the budget passed in the interest of the economy and Nigerians.

“In fact, in yesterday’s meeting, we made good progress towards resolving all the outstanding issues and getting the budget passed in the second week of March this year,” the source said.