New Telegraph

N’Assembly jacks up 2021 Budget by N505bn

The National Assembly, yesterday, passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill, jacking up aggregate expenditure to N13,588,027,886,175, which is a difference of N505 billion over and above the initial N13,082,420,568,233 proposed by the executive.

 

The budget, which was considered and passed at special sessions, held separately, but simultaneously in both chambers of the parliament, retained the basic revenue parameters contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FST) which were approved earlier in the budget process.

 

These parameters include a benchmark price of $40 per barrel of crude oil; crude oil production of 1.86 million barrels per day (mbpd); an exchange rate of N379/US$ and a three per cent GDP growth rate.

 

The budget has made a provision of N496,528,471,273 as Statutory Transfer; N5,641,970,060,680 for Recurrent Expenditure and N4,125,149,354,222 for Capital Expenditure. Similarly, the sum of N3,324,380,000,000 has been set aside for debt servicing, just as the budget contains a deficit of N5,196,007,992,292.

 

Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Barau Jibrin, while presenting the report on the budget for consideration, disclosed that in the course of processing the budget, the committee discovered an under-projection of the total revenue to tune of N100 billion. Jibrin noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted on virtually every sector of the economy, especially accruals to the government’s purse and there was need to reflate the economy and pull it out of the current recession.

 

 

He said that there was a dire need for optimal allocation and judicious utilisation of the scarce resources available for economic recovery, diversification, enhancement of competitiveness and ensuring social inclusion. He, however, expressed optimism that given the remarkable increase in Nigeria’s oil price, which is hovering between $47 and $50 per barrel in the international market, this would boost government’s revenue and assist in funding a supplementary budget.

 

“In view of the increasing global oil prices beyond the benchmark of $40, the Executive may wish to submit a Supplementary Appropriation Bill whenever it deems fit in order to find critical areas that    will further accelerate the movement of our economy out of its current state of recession,” he said.

 

In the course of passing the budget, the House of Representatives has granted express powers to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to utilise 10 per cent of their internally generated revenue in the 2021 fiscal year. According to the approved 2021 appropriation bill,

 

“The EFCC and the NFIU are authorised to change and defray from all monies standing in credit to the units as revenues or penalties or sanctions at 10% for technical setup and operational cost at the units in this financial year.” M e a n w h i l e , N752,191,855,311 was earmarked for the service wide votes.

 

A breakdown of the amount shows that payment of outstanding death benefit to civil servants/ police will gulp N5 billion, group life assurance for all MDAs, including DSS/ Insurance of sensitive assets/ corpers plus administration/ monitoring is to cost N15 billion while public service wage adjustment for MDAs (including arrears of promotion and salary increases and payment of severance benefits and minimum wage related adjustments) has been allocated N100 billion.

 

For military operations, Operation Lafiya Dole and other operations of the Armed Forces have been allocated N100 billion, settlement of MDAs electricity bills is to gulp N3 billion, IPPIS capturing/monitoring N11 billion, payment for outsourced services N5 billion, and margin for increases in costs and recurrent adjustment costs N3 billion.

 

The presidential amnesty programme (Reintegration of transformed ex– militants) was allocated N65 billion, service wide training of budget/planning officers on GIFMIS budget preparation system (BPS) as well as monitoring and evaluation of all projects nationwide was allocated N2 billion.

 

Other allocations from the service wide votes include the special intervention programme (Recurrent) –NSIP N350 billion, contingency (Recurrent) N20 billion, International sporting competitions N3 billion, TSA operations N1 billion, Employee Compensation Act – Employees Compensation Fund N4 billion, contributions to international organisations and GAVI/immunisation N30 billion.

 

For Capital Expenditure in the year 2021, the sum of N24,090,340,416 was budgeted for the Presidency; N127,850,984,984 for Ministry of Defence; N7,994,280,245 for Ministry of Foreign Affairs; N19,721,066,865 for Ministry of Information and Culture; N38,846,293,565 for Ministry of Interior; N2,491,111,568 for Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation; N218,432,074 for Auditor General of the Federation; N17,882,480,948 for Ministry of Police Affairs; N17,664,285,343 for Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy; and N45,647,587,613 for the Office of the National Security Adviser.

 

Others such as the Infrastructure Concessionary  Regulatory Commission had N353,678,953; Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation – N45,637,061,225; Special Duties and Inter- Governmental Affairs – N8,872,787,424; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – N211,077,457,584; Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning – N376,359,450,498; Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment – N64,760,781,172; Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment – N63,526,109,193; Federal Ministry of Science and Technology – N107,061,118,360; Federal Ministry of Transport – N209,736,113,910; Federal Ministry of Aviation – N70,189,215,332; and Federal Ministry of Power – N206,745,895,389.

 

In addition, N3,340,140,120 was approved for Ministry of Petroleum Resources; N12,605,747,806 for the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development; N399,694,565,222 for the Ministry of Works and Housing; N110,455,765 for the National Salaries  and Wages Commission; N261,170,602 for the Fiscal Responsibility Commission; N159,745,000,315 for the Federal Ministry of Water Resources; N5,097,558,027 for the Federal Ministry of Justice; N1,363,636,403 for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission; N37,330,762,421 for the Federal Capital Territory Administration. The sum of N22,024,592,197 was approved for the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs; N10,639,249,276 for the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development; N11,204,210,256 for Ministry of Women Affairs; N156,172,307,765 for the Ministry of Education; N134,591,025,027 for Ministry of Health; N24,554,710,490 for Ministry of Environment; N4,839,951,093 for National Population Commission; and N75,768,539,782 for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. In approving the funds, the House noted that the Minister of Finance shall ensure that funds appropriated under this Act are released to the appropriate agencies and or organs of government as and when due, provided that no funds for any quarter of the fiscal year shall be deferred without prior waiver from the National Assembly.

 

It also instructed the department of government charged with the responsibility of certifying that due processes have been complied with in the processing of implementation of projects shall ensure that all processes of approval are completed within the specified period as provided for in the Public Procurement Act.

 

“All accounting officers of ministries, parastatals and departments of government who control heads of expenditures shall, upon the coming into effect of this bill, furnish the National Assembly on quarterly basis with detailed information on the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the agency in any form; and all foreign and domestic assistance received from any agency, person or organisation in any form.”

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