THE Nigerian Senate has passed the 2024 appropriation bill of N28.77 trillion after it was read for the third time.
The Senate passed the bill on Saturday, December 30, after considering and approving the report of the Joint Committee on Appropriation of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The version of the bill passed by the Senate showed an increase of over N1.2 trillion from the N27.5 trillion proposal that President Bola Tinubu laid before the joint sitting of the National Assembly on November 29.
A breakdown of the approved budget by the Senate showed an aggregate expenditure of N28.7 trillion, including N1.7 trillion for statutory transfers. Also, N8.76 trillion was approved for recurrent expenditure, N9.99 trillion for capital expenditure, and N8.27 trillion for debt service. Accordingly, the gross domestic product (GDP) was set at 3.88 per cent.
Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Olamilekan Adeola, while presenting the committee’s report, said most of the sub-committees during budget defence complained of inadequate funds and a decline in budgetary allocation to ministries, departments and agencies under their purview in addition to the rising costs in the polity and the continuous devalue of naira.
He also disclosed that the executive forwarded requests for additional funding and some items of expenditure to the committee which were not included in the bill the President had submitted.
To accommodate the request, he said the committee made adjustments on foreign exchange differential, government-owned enterprises (GOE) revenue increase, GOE personnel reduction, service-wide vote wage adjustment, and a reduction from service-wide.
In preparing details of the 2024 appropriation bill, the committee adopted the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) approved by the National Assembly, including basic assumptions and parameters for the 2024 fiscal year.
Crude oil price was pegged at $77.96 per barrel, and crude oil production at 1.78 million barrels per day. The National Assembly approved an increase in the exchange rate to $ 800/$1 as against the N750/ $1 rate proposed by the executive.
A GDP growth rate of 3.88 per cent and a budget deficit N9.18 trillion was also approved by the National Assembly.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.