were paralysed at the National Assembly Complex Abuja on Wednesday when
President Muhammadu Buhari visited the complex to present the 2017
Appropriation Bill.
there are two more gates to cross before getting to the National
Assembly building and all were manned by list-bearing security personnel
who checked through the papers for identification of each entrant.
cards of the Senate and the House Press Corps were allowed into the
building, only those selected and accredited by the National Assembly
management were allowed into the chamber to witness the presentation.
- Here are the highlights of the N7.28 trillion federal government budget.
President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday, presented the 2017 Budget before the National Assembly (NASS).
He named it ‘Budget of Recovery and Growth’. He had named the 2016 ‘Budget of Positive Change’.
Here are the highlights of the N7.28 trillion federal government budget.
1. The budget was higher than this year’s N6.07 trillion by about 19.95 per cent
Presidential handshake: Nigeria’s president shakes hands with the Senate President
2. It was based on crude oil benchmark price of $42.5 per barrel
The benchmark price for the next budget has been raised
The benchmark for 2016 was $38 per barrel.
3. It was based on daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day, same as the figure in last year’s budget
Crude oil price has witnessed a steady rise in recent times
4. It was based on an exchange rate of N305 to the dollar as against N197 to the dollar in 2016
The prevailing official exchange rate will now reflect in the budget
5. About N2.243 trillion will be spent on capital projects and N2.9 trillion as recurrent expenditure
Capital projects will receive more funds in the next budget
The 2016 budget had N1.8 trillion and N2.65 trillion capital and
recurrent budget respectively. Experts say capital allocations should
take the larger share of a healthy budget.
6. N1.66 trillion has been allocated for servicing of domestic debts
Nigeria’s minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun
N1.3 trillion of this was earmarked for the same purpose in the 2016
budget. Foreign debt is expected to take about N175.9 billion as against
N54.5 billion for 2016.
7. Top Recurrent Expenditure: Interior gets N482 billion;
Education – N398 billion; Defence – N325 billion; Health – N252 billion
Students at a school
8. The budget of the Judiciary was raised from N70bn to N100bn
The judiciary will get more this year
Experts say this is good but call for transparency.
9. Where’s the money coming from?
10. The budget must be approved by NASS before it can become law
NASS must approve the budget first before it can be implemented