Senate President Bukola Saraki on Thursday said the 2017 budget will be passed early.

Saraki gave the assurance at the State House, Abuja, while answering questions from State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said, “Once the document comes to us, we are ready.

“I think this time around, a lot of work has taken place behind the scenes – a lot of more collaborations and I think that you will see the result in the time frame it will take after the president will have released his budget.”

Saraki also said normalcy has returned to the Senate after some lawmakers walked out of plenary on Wednesday.

He said, “It is a democracy at work. The opposition party has its views about the defection of a senator to the APC.

“Normalcy has been restored to the house and we are one family again.’’

Azeez