By Dipo Olowookere
On Tuesday, April 30, 2019, the Nigerian Senate passed the 2019 Appropriation Bill and would now be transmitted to the President for assent.
In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari submitted a budget proposal of N8.83 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly.
However, by the time the Appropriation Bill was passed today, it was increased slightly by N86 billion to N8.92 trillion.
The budget proposal was passed by the upper chamber of the parliament after considering the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriations on the 2019 Appropriation Bill presented by its Chairman, Mr Danjuma Goje.
Commenting on the passage, the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, commended his colleagues for the efforts that led to the passage of the bill and called for its complete implementation by the Executive.
“I want to thank our colleagues, particularly for their understanding and for us to be able to meet today’s deadline in passing the bill and (I) thank the Committee on Appropriation too.
“I hope that with this budget passed, the Executive will also ensure the full implementation of the budget for the benefit of Nigerians as a whole,” Mr Saraki.
A breakdown of the budget estimate revealed that statutory transfer is N502.58 billion, N2.25 trillion is for debt servicing, recurrent expenditure gets N4.65 trillion, and N2.94 trillion is earmarked for capital expenditure.
Adedapo Adesanya