By Dipo Olowookere
The 2019 appropriation bill presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2018 has passed second reading in the Senate.
The N8.83 trillion budget scaled through the second reading at the upper chamber of the parliament on Tuesday during plenary.
While debating on the appropriation bill yesterday, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce said there was nothing different from this year’s budget.
“The budget is not different from what we have been presented in the last four years. Recurrent expenditure of N4 trillion is too high. There are government agencies set up that have no value. These agencies must be scrapped,” the showbiz mogul fondly called Twitter Senator said.
On his part, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe lamented that the 25.7 percent for total debt service was worrisome when the capital budget was gulping only 23 percent.
“This is a budget of impossibilities. Out of every one naira, 68 kobo is paid out. The Federal Government needs to go back to the drawing board,” he said
“We are consolidating poverty. We need to really look at this budget. Instead of reducing, we should ‘jack up’ the budget by N10 trillion.
“What can N2 trillion do when we have ongoing projects? We need to block leakages and ensure taxes are collected,” Senator Mao Ohuabunwa said.
Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, in his contribution, said, “There is still a lot of work that needs to be done concerning the issue of the actual capital expenditure. There is a need for us to continue to plug the leakages and independent revenue. The most important issue now is for us to see how we can complete the process.”
He then referred the 2019 budget proposals to the Senate Committee on Appropriation, directing it to report back in two weeks.
Mr Saraki, however, urged all ministries and government agencies to honour invitations of its various panels at the National Assembly to defend the proposed budget for their agencies.
Adedapo Adesanya