THE Ninth Senate has passed the 2022 budget of N17.126 trillion against the N16.391trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
While passing the bill on Wednesday, the Senate increased the benchmark price of crude oil from $57 to $62 per barrel, from where a proposed increase in revenue is expected.
In the budget, N3.8 trillion is for debt service, N6.9 trillion for recurrent non-debt expenditure while N5.4 trillion is for capital expenditure.
According to a statement from the Office of the Senate President, the legislators also adjourned the plenary to January 18, 2022.
The statement quoted the Chairman of the Committee Barau Jibrin as saying that the revenue projection for the 2022 budget was predicated on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper approved by the National Assembly.
“Barau recalled that the National Assembly had approved 1.88mbpd Daily Oil Production and US$62 as against $US57 proposed by the executive arm of government. He explained that the increase in oil price benchmark from US$57 to US$62 was done to reflect the current market value in the international market,” the statement read.
After the passage of the budget, Senate President Ahmad Lawan commended the National Assembly for restoring the budget cycle to January to December.
“We thank Almighty God for helping us achieve that,” Lawan said.
Lawan commended the Senate for standing tall and said they were rounding off the year on a very high note,
“We passed the PIB, and it is now an act, something that was not passed for over 20 years.
“We passed the electoral bill but we know there are some reservations, so we will look at it with the House of Representatives. I am sure that this Senate and the National Assembly have done a lot in legislative intervention,” he stated.
A reporter with the ICIR
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