Senate Begins Debate On National Budget

The Senate on Tuesday began debate on the general principles of the N4.2 trillion budget for 2011 presented to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan on December 15.

The budget comprises N196, 115, 163,718 billion for statutory transfers, N542,381 ,827,452 billion for debt service, N2,48l, 705,176,915 trillion for recurrent expenditure and Nl,005,989,391,174 trillion for capital expenditure.

Opening debate on the budget, Senate Leader Tes1im Fo1arin urged his colleagues to hasten its passage to ensure economic development of the country.

Contributing to the debate, Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP-Cross River) commended the budget and called for its faithful implementation.

He, however, called for a reduction in the recurrent expenditure, noting that the real issue confronting the country was the cost of running government at every level.

In his contribution, Sen. Annie Okonkwo (PDP-Anambra) said that the budget, when passed, should be faithfully implemented by the executive.