The National Assembly on Wednesday 28th December 2022 passed the 2023 budget proposal after increasing it from N20.51tn to N21.82tn.

The Ministries of Defence and Health recieved the priority, while the Nigerian Army, Navy, Nigeria Police Force, and ministries of Agriculture, Health, Aviation, and Science & Technology also got reasonable increases.

The President, General Muhammadu Buhari, had on 7th October 2022, presented a budget proposal of N20.51tn to the parliament with a deficit of N10.782tn.

The Appropriations Committees of both the Senate and House of Representatives said the N1.3tn increase in the budget size was due to the additional funding earmarked for the National Population Commission ahead of the planned 2023 census as well as the N173bn appropriated for the Independent National Electoral Commission, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

National Assembly also increased the oil price benchmark proposed for the budget from $70 per barrel to $75 per barrel.

The parliament, however, retained other parameters as earlier proposed by the President like 1.69 million barrels of oil production per day, N435.57 to a US dollar; 3.75 per cent GDP growth rate and 17.16 per cent inflation rate.

Making a presentation of the report in the Senate, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Barau Jibrin, said out of the N21.827tn budget size, N967.486bn was meant for statutory transfer, N8.329tn for non- debt recurrent cost, N5.972tn for capital expenditure, and N6.557tn for debt servicing.

Story: Christy Dung

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