Seventy-two hours after the National
Assembly passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill, the document is yet to be
transmitted to the executive.
The Presidency has said that it was still
awaiting the passed budget from the legislature.
The Senior Special Assistant to Acting
President Yemi Osinbajo on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, stated this in
a statement he wrote on his twitter handle, @akandeoj.
Osinbajo’s spokesman stressed that the
executive was keenly awaiting official transmission of the document from the
National Assembly.
“In response to several media inquiries on
the 2017 budget, the Presidency is awaiting the document passed on Thursday by
the National Assembly.
“The administration is keenly awaiting
official transmission of the formal budget document and assured that this will
happen soon,” Akande stated.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to
the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, had
Friday told our correspondent on the telephone that the legal department and
the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly were working on the document.
The National Assembly had on Thursday
passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill, jerking up the budget from N7.28 trillion
earlier proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari last December to N7.44 trillion.
The Assembly raised the figures from N7.298
trillion to N7.441 trillion. They also jerked the proposed oil benchmark from
$42.5 to $44.5 per barrels.
Consequently, chairman of the Senate
Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and his House of
Representatives counterpart, Rep Mustapha Bala Dawaki, in their summaries, said
with the expected revenue from the increase in oil benchmark, provision had
been made for certain items, which resulted in the addition of N143billion.
Highlights of the budget showed that the
Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got 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, N2.60
billion 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, N2.5 billion, North-East intervention fund,
N45 billion, while constituency projects remained at N100 billion.
Also, 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.
Besides, it was the first time the National
Assembly was disclosing details of its budget. In it, senators and members of
the House of Representatives would spend N11.5billonn on travels and transport,
refreshment, N1.3billion, legislative activities, N21.4billion, vehicles,
N6.6billon and consultancy, N5.88billion.
Others are publicity and advertisements,
N3billon, fuel and lubricants, N2.1billon and security equipment,
N1.5billon.
Also the Assembly would spend N85.8billonn
on overhead, N14.9billion on capital and N23.7billion for personnel costs.
By Isiaka Wakili
