The National Assembly has passed the 2021 Appropriation Budget into law. The N13.588,027,886,107 (13 Trillion) budget is an increase of about 505 billion from the budget presented by President Mohammadu Buhari to the Joint Chambers of the National Assembly in October.
The increase featured in Capital Expenditure; from N3.6 trillion to N4.1 trillion Naira. Senator Jubrin Barau, the Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation recommended that 496.5 (496,528,471, 273) be approved for Statutory Transfers. Statutory Transfers were approved.
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The breakdown of the budget shows that N496,528,471,273 (5 Trillion) will be expended in Statutory transfer while N3,324,380,000,000 (4 Trillion) will be deployed for Debt service. N5,641,970,060,680 (6 Trillion) will be used to manage Recurrent expenditure. N4,125,149,354,222 (4 Trillion) will be invested in Capital expenditure, while Fiscal Deficit was put at N5.2 trillion (5,196,007,992,292).
The lawmakers considered the country’s daily Oil Production as well as the exchange rate, in order to determine the potentials of the budget. They pegged crude oil production at 1.86 million dollars per barrel, as well as the Oil Benchmark Price at $40 dollars per barrel. The Senate Committee on Appropriation also pegged Nigeria’s exchange rate at N379 to a Dollar, as prescribed by the Executive.
Senator Jubrin said the Appropriation Budget 2021 was approved to fund critical areas that will bring succor to the nation and also revitalise the economy and save it from recession. He urged the Executive to make sure that the budget is painstakingly implemented. He added that Nigerians should pay attention to the work that is being done by lawmakers to ensure that every Nigerian has a good lease of life, as the nation comes out of recession.
The 2021 Budget Proposal was presented before the joint legislative houses on October 8. This budget proposal for the 2021 Appropriation has since gone through scrutiny and has been defended by heads of MDAs for weeks.
Femi Morgan