National Assembly Increases 2017 Budget by N143 Billion

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Tuesday, May 9th, 2017

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The House of Representatives on Tuesday received the report of 2017 Budget proposal from its Committee on Appropriation for final consideration.

The appropriation committee increased the figures to N7.44 trillion, representing an addition of about N143 billion to the one presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on Dec. 14, 2016.

Presenting the report at plenary, Chairman of the committee, Rep. Mustapha Dawaki, said that the committee worked with other committees in the House to arrive at the new figure for the budget.

According to the report, N434.4 billion is for statutory transfer, N1.84 trillion for debt servicing and N177.46 billion is for sinking Fund for maturing bonds.

The committee appropriated N2.99 trillion for recurrent (Non-Debt) expenditure, while N2.17 trillion was provided for contribution to the development fund for Capital Expenditure.

In 2016 a similar increase in the budget sparked series of controversy as one of the Representatives alleged that the budget was “padded”./NAN