NASS Passes N7.44trn 2017 Budget

The National Assembly, yesterday, passed the long awaited 2017 Appropriation Bill of N7.441trillion as the lawmakers increased the general budget figure by N3billion.
The National Assembly has also released a breakdown of its 2017 Budget of N125billion, with additional N10 billion to NASS’ 2016 Budget of N115billion.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in December, 2016 presented a budget of N7.289 trillion to the National Assembly but the lawmakers increased the figures to N7.441trillion, indicating  about N143billion increase.
Details of the N143 billion  increase in the budget figures shows that the National Assembly increased the budgetary allocation of the Amnesty programme (Niger Delta Development Commission)  by N10billion while the lawmakers  also hiked its own budget by N10billion.
The National Assembly also through the additional allocations in the budget initiated the commencement and completion of the second Abuja airport runway which was not initially in the budget at the cost N10billion, while it also enlarged the budget for road project construction across the country by N25billion.
The budget figures for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) also received more funds as presented by the executive while the lawmakers in this budget initiated the renovation of the Abeokuta Airport construction of the Warri-Aladja railway line, among others.
Details of the budget indicates that out of the N7.441,175,486,758 trillion passed by the National Assembly, N2,177,866,775,867 trillion is for capital projects, while N434,412,950,249 billion is for statutory transfer.
Also, the sum of N1,841,345,727,206 trillion is for debt services, while N177,460,296,707 billion is for sinking fund, just as N2.987,550,033,436 is for recurrent (non debt) expenditure.
The statutory transfer is broken down in the budget by which N100 billion is allocated to the National Judicial Council (NJC), while N64,023,554,666 billion is allocated to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Similarly, N95,189,395,583 billion was allocated to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), while National Assembly allocated to itself the sum of N125 billion, even as the public complaint commission got N4 billion.
While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) got N45billion, the National Human Rights Commission got N1,2000,000,000 billion.
The lawmakers budgeted N1,488,002,436,547 trillion is for domestic debt services, while N175,882,993,952 is for foreign debt services, making a total of N1,663,885,430,499.
On the personnel aspect of the recurrent expenditure, the Office of the  Auditor General for the Federation was allocated N 2,693,253,521 billion, while Ministry of Budget and National Planning  was allocated N8,843,198,998 billion, and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was allocated N31,752,144,051 billion for personnel expenditure.
Also, the  Ministry of Defence  was allocated N330,543,309,223 billion, while the  Federal Ministry of Education  got an allocation  of N398,686,819,418 billion, even as the Federal Ministry of Environment  was allocated N16,108,983,841billion for personnel expenditure.
The  Federal Ministry of Finance  was allocated N9,521,555,393 billion, while the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs  was allocated N56,424,094,037billion, and the  Federal Ministry of Health was allocated N252,854,396,662billion, and the  Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment  got N10,797,165,779 billion for personnel expenditure.
Also, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture  was allocated N40,821,093,321billion, while  Federal Ministry of Interior  was allocated N472,597,817,561billion, and the  Federal Ministry of Justice  got N21,038,344,711billion, even as the  Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment  got N8,626,186,611billion for personnel expenditure.
The  Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development  got N10,385,055,182 billion,  Federal Ministry of Niger Delta  got N1,764,382,365 billion,  Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources  got N63,222,101,051billion,  Federal Ministry of Science and Technology  got N27,785,074,208 billion, the  Federal Ministry of Transportation  got N14,810,103,581billion for personnel expenditure.
In the same vein, the  Federal Ministry of Water Resources  was allocated N7,301,176,944 billion, while the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs  was allocated N1,466,534,201billion, and the  Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing  got N32,821,929,055billion, and the
Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development  got N89,316,015,167billion for personnel expenditure.
While the  Fiscal Responsibility Commission  was allocated N332,848,038billion, the  Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC)  got N5,159,640,131billion, and the  Infrastructure Concessionary and Regulatory Commission (ICRC)  got N884,624,464billion, and the Federal Ministry of Communications Technology got N11,192,782,734billion, just as the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission was allocated N631,503,868 billion for personnel expenditure.
Also, the  Office of the National Security Adviser  got N76,281,025,653billion, while the  Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation  was allocated N6,652,280,969billion, and the State House was allocated N22,947,666,215 and the office of the  Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)  got N51,933,366,906billion for personnel expenditure.
In the Capital Supplementation, a total Allocation of N310,037,229,460 billion was approved, of which the GIFMIS/IPPIS Capital  budget is N5billion, while OSSAP- SDGs (Special Projects)  got N9billion, and  OSSAP-SDGs (Conditional Grants)  is N10billion, just as  OSSAP-SDGs (Social Safety Nets)  is N15,902,000,000 billion,  Capital Exigencies/Adjustment to Capital Cost  N5billion.
The National Development Plans (Ministry of Budget and National Planning)N 1,000,000,000,  Head of Service (Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board)   1,000,000,000,  Zonal Intervention Projects N100,000,000,000,  North-East Intervention Fund N45,000,000,000,  Counterpart Funding Including Global Fund/Health 3,500,000,000.
Also, the  Payment of Local Contractors’ Debts/Other Liabilities had  N20,000,000,000,  Galaxy Backbone  had N4,000,000,000  Contingency (Capital) N10,000,000,000,  Recapitalisation of Development Finance Institutions N15,000,000,000.
Subscriptions to Shares in International Organisations N28,635,229,460,  SDG: Special Intervention Project N1 12,000,000,000,  SDG: Special Intervention Project N2 8,000,000,000,  Facilities and Technical Services N14,500,000,000.
Implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and Establishment of Delivery Unit at the Presidency  hot N2,500,000,000, while the total Capital Supplementation  is N310,037,229,460, and the   Capital in FGN Special Intervention Programme  is N150,000,000,000.
Just before the passage of the bill, the Lawmakers commended the committee and the entire red chamber for coming up with a detailed Appropriation Bill; the first of it’s kind since 1999.
Speaking earlier on the generality of the Budget, Senate Minority leader Godswill Akpabio commended the senate for doing a thorough job.