Reps pass 2023 budget, raise it to N21.82trn

By Linda Ike

The House of Representatives has passed the 2023 appropriation budget of N21.82 trillion.

The budget was jerked from the N20.51 trillion presented earlier by President Muhammadu Buhari to
N21.82 trillion.

This is sequel to the consideration and approval of the report of the House committee on appropriation at plenary on Wednesday by the committee on supply.

According to the report, there was an increase of over N1 trillion proposed estimates of the executive.

It also showed that out of the total sum, N967.48 billion is for statutory transfers,
N6.55 trillion is for debt service, N8.32 trillion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the sum of N5.97 trillion is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2023.

From the statutory transfers, the National Judicial Council takes
N165 billion; Niger-Delta Development Commission gets
N119.93 billion,
Universal Basic Education
N103.28 billion; Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) N173.63 billion; National Human Right Commission
N4.5 billion; North East Development Commission
N59.03 billion; Basic Health Care Fund
N51.64 billion
and National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) N51.64 billion.

Also under the statutory transfers,
National Assembly Severance/Inauguration of outgoing and incoming 9th and 10th
Assembly (Legislators and Legislative Aides) is allocated
N30.17 billion,
National Assembly Office gulps
N30.49 billion;
Senate N33.26 billion, House of Representatives
N51.99 billion;
National Assembly Service Commission N10.55 billion; National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS)
N7.41billion and Service Wide Vote
N671.3 million.

Office of Retired Clerks and Permanent Secretaries take
N1.05 billion,
National Assembly Library Building N4.25 billion; Constitution Review
N850 million; Completion of NILDS headquarters N2.5 billion;
Construction of National Assembly Service Commission Building
N10 billion
and Public Complaints Commission
N10.69 billion.

Under recurrent expenditure (Non-debt) the presidency is allocated
N76.40 billion, defence gets
N1.09 trillion,
ministry of foreign affairs N93.68 billion,
federal ministry of information & culture
N59.82 billion; interior
N278.69 billion; Police Affairs
N777.40 billion; communications and digital economy N32.13 billion; National Security Adviser N172.60 billion
and Secretary to the Government of the Federation takes
N70.08 billion.

Further breakdown indicates that
For debt service, domestic debts (including Ways and Means) get
N4.49 trillion; foreign debts is allocated
N1.81 trillion; sinking fund to retire maturing loans takes
N247.72 billion.

For the recurrent expenditure,
Federal Ministry of Special Duties & Inter-Governmental Affairs gets
N4.79 billion; Agriculture and Rural Development
N85.41 billion; Finance, Budget and National Planning
N29.99 billion; Industry, Trade and Investment N16.82 billion; Labour and Employment
N15.52 billion, Science, Technology and Innovation N52.33 billion; Transport N18.01 billion;
Aviation
N9.43 billion; Petroleum Resources
N33.15 billion and Works and Housing N34.98 billion.

Further breakdown of the capital expenditure showed that
Science, Technology and Innovation is allocated
N132.57 billion; Transport
N74.26 billion;
Aviation
N49.41 billion; Power N56.14 billion; Works and Housing
N398.27 billion; Federal Capital Territory Administration
N15.47 billion; Education
N153.73 billion; Health
N134.90 billion and Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development N32.05 billion.

For the capital expenditure, Presidency is allocated
N20.11 billion, defence gets N285 billion,
Foreign Affairs
N5.85 billion; Information & Culture N11.87 billion; Interior
N45.62 billion; Police N60.64 billion;
National Security Adviser
N70.33 billion; Agriculture and Rural Development
N248.35 billion, Finance, Budget and National Planning N166.74 billion.