SENATE PASSES N28.7TRN BUDGET FOR YEAR 2024 WITH AN INCREASE OF ABOUT N1.2 TRILLION 30-12-23
By Sadiq Aminu The Senate has passed N28.7trillion budget for year 2024 , increasing the budget from the N27.5trillion presented by President Bola Tinubu with about N1.2 trillion.
The passage of the bill, followed the approval of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriation at plenary.
Presenting the report the chairman of the committee, Senator Solomon Olamilekan said that the Committee adopted the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Paper (MTEF/FSP) approved by National Assembly in preparing the budget.
He said the committee adopted the 77.96 dollar per barrel oil benchmark 1.78mbpd and 800 dollar exchange rate to naira as against 750 dollars proposed by the executive.
Senator Olamilekan listed the highlights of the bill to include a total aggregate expenditure of N28.7trillon, statutory transfers of N1.7trillion,recurrent expenditure of N8.7 trillion,while the capital expenditure component stood at N9.9trillon.
According to him due to the closely and harmonious appropriation process, the executive forwarded request for additional funding of some items on expenditure that were not included in the bill as submitted by the Presidenthence the increment.
He,however said that the committee observed that the 2024 Appropriation Bill was presented to the National Assembly late which was against the Fiscal Responsibility Act that required the Bill to be presented not later than three months before the next financial year.
The appropriation Chairman said there were inconsistencies in the revenue of some Government Owned Enterprises.(GOEs).
The committee then recommended that to ensure thorough scrutiny of budget proposal, the executives should comply with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, ensure compliance with the provisions of relevant extant laws, as it concerns government agencies.
It urged the executive to sustain the increase on capital component over recurrent to ensure developmental programmes across the country.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio assured that the document would be immediately transmitted to the President for his assent so that implementation could begin by January 1, 2024.