Senate to pass 2017 Budget tomorrow – Saraki

.As Reps raise budget by N143bn

The Senate on Tuesday made good its promise not to entertain any further delay in the passage of 2017 Budget as it received the long-awaited report on the budget from its committees on appropriations and finance, led by Danjuma Goje and John Enoh respectively.

The prolonged delay in the passage of 2017 Budget had raised apprehensions in some quarters, most especially on the impact on national economy, whereas, the Senate vowed last week that the passage would not exceed this week.

The Senate President Bukola Saraki after the presentation of Budget document assured that the passage would be done tomorrow (Thursday).

Saraki commended the Appropriation Committee for a “job well done,” adding that the budget had been laid in full details, the first time that would be happening in Nigeria.

He said: “On behalf of our colleagues let me congratulate the committee”.

“This is history being made, because this is the first time report of the appropriation bill would be laid with details. By Wednesday you will get hard copies of the report, but the soft copy will be ready today. We will distribute them and ensure we pass the bill on Thursday.”

The Buhari government had, hitherto been exercising the constitutional privilege of spending from the 2016 budget, following undue delay in the passage of this year’s budget.

President Buhari had presented a budget proposal of N7.30 trillion for the 2017 fiscal year before a joint session of the national assembly on December 14, 2016.

According to breakdown of the budget, the sum of N2.24 trillion, representing 30.7 per cent was earmarked for capital expenditure, while N2.98 trillion was voted for recurrent. Al

The 2017 budget set the oil benchmark price at 42.5 dollar per barrel with a production estimate of 2.2 million barrels per day.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation on Tuesday submitted the 2017 budget of N7.44 trillion for consideration and passage.

This figure represents a slight increase of over N143 billion as against the initial figure of N7.29 trillion proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari which he presented to the joint session of the National Assembly on December 14, 2017.

Buhari had during presentation of the 2017 Appropriation Bill promised that his administration would pay more attention to infrastructure, while roads and rail projects would take the centre stage.

Presenting the budget report during plenary, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Mustapha Dawaki, said that the committee worked assiduously with various committees of the House to arrive at the final amount contained in the report.

The Bill, which was first referred to the House Appropriation Committee on January 26, 2017, suffered some delay due to the inability of some committees to submit their reports on time.

In the report presented by the House Appropriation Committee, N434.4 billion is for statutory transfer, N1.84 trillion for debt service and N177.46 billion is for sinking Fund for maturing bonds.

Also, N2.99 trillion is for recurrent (Non-Debt) expenditure, N2.17 trillion is for contribution to the development fund for Capital expenditure (Exclusive of capital expenditure in statutory transfers).