The National Assembly has passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill of N7.441 trillion into law.
The figure represents an increase of N143 billion from what President Muhammadu Buhari laid before the joint session of the National Assembly on December 14, 2016.
The increase in expenditure came with a significant mark up in the benchmark crude oil price to $44.5 per barrel from the N42.5 per barrel proposed by the President.
However, the National Assembly maintained the daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels, and exchange rate of N305 to $1 as proposed by the President.
30 per cent or N2.18 trillion was allocated to capital expenditure, while recurrent expenditure (non-debt) and debt service received N2.987 trillion and N1.84 trillion respectively.
The debt service allocation comprise N1.488 trillion to service domestic debt; N175.88 million to service foreign debts, while N177.46 million is to retire maturing loans.
The breakdown of the capital expenditure shows the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing having the highest capital vote of N553, 713,857,113, followed by Ministry of Defence with capital vote of N139,294,920,350; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with a total of N103,793,201,010; Federal Ministry of Niger Delta has N34,201,500,001; Federal Ministry of Interior got N63,760,562,487; Ministry of Education, N56,720,969,147; Federal Ministry of Health, N55,609,880,120.
Further details show the State House having N20,066,000,000; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) N32,778,490,342; Auditor General for the Federation having, N90,509, 818; Ministry of Budget and National Planning N4,092,773,627; Federal Ministry of Environment N12,479,369,455; Federal Ministry of Finance N5,181,348,624; Ministry of Foreign Affairs N10,291,783,534; Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment N81,726,971,059; Federal Ministry of Information and Culture N9,546,245,04; Federal Ministry of Interior N63,760,562,487; Federal Ministry of Justice N12,705,755,001; Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment N8,803,520,400; Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development N12,455,000,000; Federal Capital Territory Administration N30,397,122,87; Federal Ministry of Niger Delta N34,201,500,001; Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources N6,793,128,647; Federal Ministry of Science and Technology N41,699,655,490; Federal Ministry of Transportation N241,709,000,000; Federal Ministry of Water Resources N104,245,803,11; Federal Ministry of Women Affairs N4,250,732,000; Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing N553,713,857,113; Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development N5,441,000,000; Fiscal Responsibility Commission N148,155,391; Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) N767,865,170; Infrastructure Concessionary and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) N34,310,245; Federal Ministry of Communications Technology N8,434,669,142; National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission N163,121,916; Office of the National Security Adviser N47,209,203,765; Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation N1,974,176,735
Briefing journalists after passage of the budget, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Danjuma Goje explained that the 2017 budget was raised by the National Assembly “as a result of increased revenue coming to the government due to increase in the crude oil price benchmark to $44.5 per barrel as against $42.5 proposed by the executive.
He disclosed that N10 billion was allocated for the take-off of second runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by the federal government.
“We consider the rehabilitation of the Abeokuta Airport to serve as alternative to the international airport in Ikeja. Last time when Abuja airport runway was undergoing rehabilitation, Kaduna Airport, being the nearest was used as alternative airport,” he said.
Approval of the budget followed deliberation on the report of the Committee on Appropriations on the 2017 Appropriation Bill.
In an unprecedented move, the National Assembly also opened up its own budget.
The Appropriation Committee summarized the Appropriation bill thus: “That the House do consider the Report of the Committee on Appropriations on a Bill authorises the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, the total sum of N7,441,175,486,758 (Seven Trillion, Four Hundred and Forty-One Billion, One Hundred and Seventy-Five Million, Four Hundred and Eighty-Six Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty-Eight Naira) only, of which, N434,412,950,249 (Four Hundred and Thirty-Four Billion, Four Hundred and Twelve Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand, Two Hundred and Forty-Nine Naira) only, is for Statutory Transfers, N1,841,345,727,206 (One Trillion, Eight Hundred and Forty-One Billion, Three Hundred and Forty-Five Million, Seven Hundred and Twenty-Seven Thousand, Two Hundred and Six Naira) only, is for Debt Service, ?177,460,296,707 (One Hundred and Seventy-Seven Billion, Four Hundred and Sixty Million, Two Hundred and Ninety-Six Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seven Naira) only is for Sinking Fund for maturing bonds, N2,987,550,033,436 (Two Trillion, Nine Hundred and Eighty-Seven Billion, Five Hundred and Fifty Million, Thirty-Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty-Six Naira) only, is for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure while the sum of N2,177,866,775,867 (Two Trillion, One Hundred and Seventy-Seven Billion, Eight-Hundred and Sixty-Six Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty-Seven Naira) only, is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure (Exclusive of Capital Expenditure in Statutory Transfers) for the year ending on the 31st December, 2017. ” NASS opens own budget For the first time in eight years, the National Assembly unveiled its own budget for 2017, which was increased to N125 billion from the N115 billion approved for National Assembly in 2016. The breakdown shows that of the N125 billion approved for the National Assembly, the Management has a vote of N14,919,065,013; the Senate has an allocation of N31,398,765,886 while the House of Representatives would spend N49,052,743,983.
The breakdown further shows that the total allocation for the Legislative Aides is N9,602,095,928; National Assembly Commission gets N2,415,712,873; Public Accounts Committee, PAC for the Senate was allocated a total sum N118,970,215 while House of Representatives PAC got N142,764,258.
The breakdown of the proposed N125 billion which covers 10 critical areas of expenditures shows that under personnel costs, a total vote of N6.714 billion was allocated for the National Assembly Management, N1.856 billion for the Senate, N4.923 billion for the House of Representatives, N8.917 billion for legislatives Aides, N961.127 million for NASS Service Commission and N416.452 million for NASS Legislative Institute.
Out of the N85.878 billion appropriated as total over head costs, the National Assembly Management got N6.193 billion, N25.111 billion for the Senate, N39.635 billion for the House of Representatives, N11.767 billion for General Services, N1.144 billion for NASS Service Commission, N1.229 billion for NASS Legislative Institute, N534.968 million for Legislative Aides, N118.970million for Public Account Committee (PAC) in the Senate and N142.764mmillion for PAC in the House of Representatives.
Under capital votes, Management got N2.011billion, N4.430billion for the Senate, N4.493billion for the House of Representatives, N2.727billion for NASS Legislative Institute, N309.791million for NASS Service Commission, N150million for Legislative Aides and N816.928million for General Services.
Also in the breakdown was an item known with the executive in terms of Service Wide Votes with a vote of N391.396 million for both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
