The Senate on Wednesday referred further legislative activities on the 2015 budget to its committees on Finance and appropriation and adjourned plenary till February 17 to enable members to participate in the forthcoming general election slated for February 14 and 28.

The senators, who resumed from their one month Christmas holiday on Tuesday, carried out an extensive debate on the budget describing it as unrealistic based on the falling oil revenue and stressed the need for the federal government to block all leakages.

They lamented the lack of fiscal discipline by government officials and the withdrawal of the excess crude funds from the federation account without necessary authorisation from the National Assembly.

The budget which passed second reading is N4.357tn out of which N2.616tn is for recurrent expenditure while N387tn is earmarked for capital expenditure.