The National Assembly Thursday passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill, more than four months after it was submitted to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari presented the budget documents to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 14, 2016.
Both chambers of the assembly raised the figure from N7.30 trillion presented by the president to N7.44 trillion.
In separate sessions, both chambers of the assembly approved the Bill with the same figure, which represented an increase of about N143 billion from the amount proposed by the president, after harmonising their reports.
At the senate, the passage of the
Bill followed the presentation of report on it by the Chairman, Committee on
Appropriation, Sen. Danjuma Goje, at plenary.
In the approval, Statutory Transfers
got N434 billion, N1.8 trillion for Debt Servicing, N177.5 billion for Sinking
Fund for Maturity Bonds and N2.99 trillion for Recurrent Non-Debt Expenditure.
Contribution to the Development Fund
for Capital Expenditure, exclusive of the capital expenditure in statutory
transfers for the year ending Dec. 31, 2017, got N2.2 trillion.
The chamber pegged crude oil
production for the budget at 2.2 million barrels per day, with foreign exchange
rate of N305 to a dollar.
Presenting the report earlier, Goje
had said that the increase in the 2017 budget was informed by the need to make
budgetary provisions to some critical sectors of the economy.
“The committee made some landmark
interventions in the critical sectors of our national life.
“This includes the provision for
second Abuja runway and rehabilitation and upgrading of Abeokuta Airport.
“We have also made adequate
provision for the completion and take-off of Barinda Port under the Nigeria
Inland Waterways.
“We also have provision for the
Amnesty Programme to ensure full stability and peace in Niger Delta with the
obvious increase in oil production,’’ he said.
Other senators contributed to the
debate on the report, with Deputy President of Senate, Ike Ekweremadu,
commending the Joint Committee on Appropriation for presenting details of the
budget.
He also commended the assembly for
some innovations introduced into the budget, making it more inclusive.
“ The Appropriation Bill is the most
important Bill of the National Assembly and for us, all these years to consider
this bill without public hearing, I believe has been a mistake.
“Now we are back to the right path
by ensuring there is a public hearing. There were some issues in the course of
the public hearing this year.
“I believe that going forward we are
going to increase the number of days and more people participating in having
the public hearing for the budget for coming years.
“We have moved from the budget cycle
of January to December; now, we are doing May to May,’’ he said.
Ekweremadu urged the executive to
present the budget for 2018 early enough to enable the National Assembly return
to the budget cycle of January to December, assuring that if it was presented
early, it would be considered it by legislators.
In a voice vote, the lawmakers
passed the Bill, and urged the executive to ensure that the budget was
implemented fully.
In his remarks, the President of the
Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that one of the achievements of the 8th National
Assembly was making the budget available to the public.
He called on all major stakeholders
to ensure that the budget, christened “Budget of Recovery’’ would reflect
equity in the allocation of resources to all sectors.
According to Saraki, ensuring
equitable distribution of resources will go a long way in helping Nigerians to
come out of the present economic recession.
“I appreciate the level of
consultation and the good working relationship and cooperation that existed
between us and the executive for us to get to this point.
“This is a remarkable difference
from what we saw in 2016 and it shows that the entire country is better for it.
“I commend Nigerians for their
patience and understanding to this point. We believe that the budget we have
done this time will bring value to all us,’’ he said.
At the House of Representatives, the
Bill was passed with N434. 41 billion provision for Statutory Transfers, N1.84
trillion for Debt Servicing, N177.46 billion for Sinking Fund from maturing
bonds.
Recurrent Expenditure got N2.99
trillion, Capital Expenditure, 2.18 trillion and provision of N2.36 trillion
was made for Fiscal Deficit, with deficit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) put
at 2.18 per cent.
Highlight of the budget showed that
Ministry of Power, Works and Housing received the highest fund of N586.54
billion, Ministry of Transport, N256.52 billion; Ministry of Education, N455.41
billion and Ministry of Health, N308.46 billion.
Ministry of Information and Culture
got N9.55 billion, N4 billion for Treasury Single Account (TSA) operations.
The House approved Federal
Government’s N2.60 billion allocation for the benefits of retired Heads of the
Civil Service of the Federation under the Service Wide Vote and Pensions.
Implementation of the Economic
Recovery and Growth Plan received N2.5 billion, North-East intervention fund,
N45 billion; fund for zonal intervention projects also known as constituency
projects remained at N100 billion as in 2016 budget.
The report of the 2017 Appropriation
Bill was earlier presented by the Chairman of the House Committee on
Appropriation, Rep. Mustapha Dawaki, to the plenary for consideration.
Dawaki said that the committed was
guided by the “primary revenue parameters approved by the National Assembly
when it considered the Medium Term Expenditure Framework /Fiscal Strategy Paper
(MTEF/FSP).
“This estimate is predicated on the
revenue assumption of an oil price benchmark of 42.50 dollar per barrel, crude
oil production rate if 2.2 million barrels per day and an exchange rate of
305/dollar’’.
He, however, said that the house
changed the oil benchmark to 44.50 dollars per barrel.
Dawaki gave breakdown of the N143
billion added to the budget by the lawmakers, saying that Judgement debts
(Justice) got N10 billion and Backlog of Corps Members Allowances (Youth),
N13.06 billion.
Others, according to him, are
Repairs of Abuja Airport Runway (Transport), N5.8 billion; Increase in
Personnel Cost (18 MDAs), N5.1 billion; UNESCO Assessed Contribution
(Education), N1.2 billion; Subscription to Shelter Afrique (Power, Works &
Housing), N3.6 billion.
It also include Economic Recovery
and Growth Plan (ERGP -Service Wide), N2.5 billion; Amnesty Programme (Service
Wide), N10 billion; National Identity Management Commission (SGF), N5 billion,
and Roads, Nationwide (Power, Works and Housing), N25 billion.
The lawmaker added that adequate
provision had been made to improve inland water ways, “for the second Abuja
runway, and funding of the long-abandoned Itakpe-Warri rail line and Abeokuta
Airstrip”.
On a voice vote put by the Speaker,
Mr Yakubu Dogara, after the consideration of the Bill, the house passed it.
“The house considered and passed the
report of the Committee on Appropriations on a Bill authorizing the issue from
the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N7.44
trillion,” Dogara declared.
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