N’Assembly Increases 2017 Budget by N143bn, to Pass Spending Bill Thursday

The National Assembly has increased the size of the 2017 budget proposed by the executive by N143 billion, from N7.298 trillion to N7.441 trillion.
This is as the Senate and House of Representatives laid the harmonised report of the 2017 Appropriation Bill at their respective plenary sessions on Tuesday.

The lawmakers increased statutory transfers to N434.4 billion from N419.02 billion, while the amount proposed for debt service was increased to N1.841 trillion from N1.66 trillion.
The sinking fund for maturing bonds was retained at N177.4 billion, while non-debt recurrent expenditure was increased to N2.99 trillion from N2.98 trillion, as contained in the budget proposal.

The National Assembly also appropriated N2.174 trillion for Development Fund for capital expenditure, which is exclusive of capital expenditure in statutory transfers. The executive had proposed N2.24 trillion for capital expenditure, inclusive of capital in statutory transfers.

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said the budget would be passed on Thursday.
He added that the electronic copies of the budget bill would be sent to lawmakers by the end of Tuesday, while hard copies would be distributed Wednesday.

“We will use all of tomorrow to study and hopefully pass it on Thursday,” he said.
“Let me congratulate the Appropriation Committee, because we have seen history being made. This is the first time the Appropriation Committee is laying the budget with the details,” Saraki added.

It was reported last week that the National Assembly also increased its budget to N150 billion, from the proposed N120 billion.
Briefing newsmen after plenary, the Senate spokesman, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, said the submission of the harmonised version of the budget in both chambers has eliminated any further delays.

“Remember I once said the two committees were working to harmonise their reports. The report that was laid at the Senate is the exact report that will be laid in the House of Representatives.

“The key take away today is the fact that we did not just lay the report, we laid the report along with the details of the budget.
“I think this is unprecedented because to the best of our knowledge, from 1999 to date, it has not happened,” the spokesman said.

Also, the House on Tuesday received the report of the Committee on Appropriation on the 2017 budget.
President Muhammadu Buhari last December submitted a budget proposal of N7.29 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly.