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Tag: 2017 Budget

  • I will sign 2017 budget when satisfied with content – Acting President, Osinbajo affirms

    The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said he will assent the 2017 budget when the Senate transmits it to the Presidency and its content are satisfactory enough.

    This was revealed by the acting President’s spokesperson, Laolu Akande in apparent reaction to some newspaper reports quoting Minister of Information and Culture that the government was not sure of who to sign the budget.

    “It’s absolute rubbish,” said Mr. Mohammed, dismissing the report on Wednesday.

    The minister’s aide later distributed a statement, further denying the report.

    The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a story in a section of the media quoting the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as saying ”we don’t know who will sign the 2017 budget”.

    “This quote is a malicious misrepresentation of what transpired at the post-Federal Executive Council Meeting press briefing on Wednesday, 17 May 2017.

    “When the minister was asked a question relating to the signing of the
    2017 budget, his response was: ”When it is transmitted to the Presidency, the issue will be addressed.”

    “Anything beyond that response amounts to deliberate mischief and should be ignored.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that there has been apprehension in the country over whom to sign the 2017 Appropriation Bill especially with the President’s recent medical trip to London.

    However, Osinbajo’s spokesperson, Akande, stressed that his principal would sign the budget into law in due course.

    “Just so we are clear: when the time comes, everything is set, and he is satisfied, Ag. President Yemi Osinbajo will assent to the 2017 Budget,” tweeted Akande.

    TheNewsGuru.com that the National Assembly had last week passed the budget, increasing the total sum by N143 billion compared to what was sent by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the lawmakers are, however, yet to transmit the budget to the presidency.

  • Osinbajo to receive 2017 budget from N’assembly today

    Osinbajo to receive 2017 budget from N’assembly today

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo may receive the 2017 budget from the National Assembly today.

    A source reportedly disclosed to Punch newspaper that the Legal Department of the National Assembly has concluded its work on the budget and now set to send it to the Presidency on Wednesday morning.

    “We have been in communication with the National Assembly. They told us to expect the budget today, but up till now, it hasn’t come.

    “We now hear it will be tomorrow (today).”

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Abdulrahman Kawu, confirmed that the office was expecting the budget today.

    “It is Wednesday (today); at least, that was what I was told. So, we wait and see,” he added.

    It was learnt that issues were allegedly raised on some sub-heads in the budget of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

    “Some changes were made. They cut funds from some allocations by the executive and they added to other sub-heads.

    “This will affect the implementation of the projects on these sub-heads,” one official said.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, on Tuesday, said the budget was still undergoing legislative processes.

    Sabi-Abdullahi stated, “If you are familiar with our procedures, you will see that the budget always carries some signatures.

    “So, the two chairmen (of Committee on Appropriations) of the two chambers have to do that. And when they do that, it will be transmitted to the Clerk to the National Assembly, who will make sure that he also puts in his administrative process to form the document to the Presidency.

    “The fact that we have approved it does not amount to the fact that it will move straight to the Presidency. Whichever way it goes, those who are responsible for processing this document have been doing that ever since we passed it. Any moment from now, either today or at most, tomorrow, they should be able to transmit it to the Presidency.”

  • Acting President, Osinbajo reviews 2017 budget

    The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is currently reviewing the 2017 budget.

    The Senior special assistant to the Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande stated this on Monday in a statement on his twitter handle @akandeoj.

    Laolu revealed that the acting president is presiding over a meeting with the economic management team with the aim of reviewing the 2017 appropriation bill amongst other economic matters.

    “Acting President Osinbajo, presiding over Economic Management Team reviewing major issues, 2017 budget & others. In attendance are ministers & CBN gov.” he said.

    He also stated that the implementation of the 2017 appropriation bill would not be difficult once the bill has been assented.

    It could be recalled that the National assembly had on Thursday passed 2017 appropriation bill.

  • Construction of second Abuja Airport runway captured in 2017 budget – Lawan

    Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan said on Friday that the National Assembly (NASS) captured new projects, including a second runway for the Abuja Airport, in the 2017 appropriation bill it passed.

    Lawan told state House Correspondents that the projects were covered from the difference in the N42.5 oil bench mark proposed by the Executive and the N44.5 passed by NASS.


    He was explaining the reason behind the passage of N7.44 trillion instead of N7.3 trillion proposed by the executive arm of government.

    “We have been able to capture for example the second Abuja Airport runway which we all need in this country; we have suffered from having only one.


    “We have also been able to capture in the NASS from that fund the completion of the Baro inland port.


    “We have also been able to also include the Abeokuta Airport.


    “There are so many other things including the Warri– Aladja rail line and so on and so forth.


    “These are newly introduced capital projects from the proceeds, the difference between the N44.5 (passed by NASS) and the N42.5 bench mark that we received from the Executive.


    “So, we have done fantastically well.


    “There were no major issues like we had last year during the processing of the budget.’’

    He said that what the NASS passed was still within the good bounds of what the executive presented as there was not much change in the allocations.


    He said that the NASS tried to tinker in few cases but ensured that it did not disfigure t    he appropriation.

    “There won’t be, in my opinion and judgment, any issue whether the NASS has tinkered with the budget because we haven’t done much tinkering with it.


    “We have been able to agree mostly with what the executive has presented.


    “But I want to assure you that this is one budget that the NASS has worked so hard to ensure that every part of the country gets something just as proposed by the executive,’’ he added.


    On the increase in the appropriation for the NASS, Lawan said it was also to take care of the capital projects in the NASS.


    According to him, the NASS ensured that the increase was also derived from the two dollar difference in the oil bench mark.


    He said that NASS was building the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) meant for capacity building of legislators and non-legislators alike.


    He however said he did not think that the allocation was something big as far as NASS was concerned.


    “You need to have a NASS that is really poised, wired and competent to produce good laws.


    “Imagine a NASS where you have so many experts, many retired people from the industry, security services, even Presidents, for example, coming to the NASS.


    “So we should have a NASS that is properly and fully kitted and with adequate capacity,’’ he said.

     

     

     

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  • 2017 budget will galvanise economic growth – legislator

    The 2017 Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly will galvanise economic growth and pull the country out of recession, Dr Abubakar Amuda-Kannike, member House of Representatives, has said.

    Amuda-Kannike (APC-Oyo state), made the statement on Friday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in his reaction to the passage of the budget.

    NAN reports that on Thursday, the National Assembly passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill of N7.44 trillion.

    The amount is N143 billion more than the N7.30 trillion budget presented to the legislature by President Muhammadu Buhari on Dec 14, 2016.

    Amuda-Kannike said: “what is giving me the confidence that we are going to have a budget of recovery and development is the appropriation of the expected revenue.

    “A good look at the budget will tell you that there is a departure from a situation where there is huge disparity between recurrent and capital projects value in the budget.

    “This year, we are looking at a situation where 30 per cent of the budget will be for capital projects.

    “Before now, we used to have about 60 per cent of our budget for recurrent expenditure.

    “There was no proper focus on capital projects; there is no economy that will grow or recover if the government does not invest on capital projects.’’

    The legislator pointed out that the 2017 budget would not only address the huge infrastructural deficit in the country, it would also guarantee conducive environment crucial for economic activities to thrive.

    “We had situations where manufacturers were moving out of Nigeria to neighbouring countries where the conditions were more encouraging which made Nigerians to loose their jobs.

    “But now we are focusing on infrastructure and this will engineer growth.

    “You will now see more roads are going to be constructed, we will have more power generation and electricity will become more constant and there is going to be more infrastructure,’’ he added.

    Speaking during plenary on Thursday, Rep. Mustapha Dawaki, chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, said the 2017 budget was increased by over N143 billion to cater for some critical sectors of the economy.

    Dawaki explained that N10 billion was appropriated for the construction of the second Abuja runway.

    He said that funds were also provided for the long abandoned Itakpe-Warri rail line.

    “Others are funding for Ajaokuta airstrip, the inland water ways and increased funding for the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta to ensure stability in the region,’’ he added.

    He said that the expected additional revenue from increased benchmark price of crude oil from USD 42.50 to USD 44.50 and the under listed budgetary needs, prompted the committee to increase the budget to N7.44 trillion.

    A breakdown of the budget showed that N2.1 trillion was appropriated for capital expenditure and N2.9 trillion for recurrent expenditure.

    The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing had the highest capital expenditure of N533 billion, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development got N103.7 billion while the Ministry of Education got N56.7 billion.

  • National Assembly passes 2017 budget

    National Assembly passes 2017 budget

    The National Assembly has passed the 2017 Appropriations Bill, raising the budget from N7.28 billion earlier proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari in December last year, to N7.44 trillion.

    The Appropriations Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives separately presented their harmonised reports of the budget for consideration and subsequent passage on Thursday.

    According to the report, N434.4 billion was appropriated for statutory transfers to the National Judicial Council (N100 billion); Niger Delta Development Commission (N64.02 billion); Universal Basic Education (N95.2 billion); National Assembly (N125 billion); Public Complaints Commission (N4 billion); INEC (N45 billion); and National Human Rights Commission (N1.2 billion).

    The seven establishments are to get allocations on first line charge. In practice, the spending details of these offices are not made public.

    But the spokesperson for the Senate, Aliyu Abdullahi, told Journalists details of the National Assembly budget are included in the whole national budget, ending eight years of secrecy.

    “We have opened our budget,” he said. “Details are in the (whole) budget, that’s what I have come to tell you.”

    A spokesperson for Senate President Bukola Saraki, Sani Onogu, said that “line by line details of the NASS budget were in the appropriations bill.

    “This one (the breakdown) is just an advanced copy. The public will see everything line by line regarding NASS budget. That is historic,” he said.

    Speaking in the plenary, Dino Melaye said: “For the first, the budget contains full details of the National Assembly, not only line by line, but explicitly. I was happy when I saw NASS budget details in the document distributed to us this morning.

    This will afford civil society groups and every Nigerian to ask questions.”

    In the breakdown of the National Assembly budget released by Mr. Abdullahi, the Management, Senate the House of Representatives are to receive N14,919,065013, 31,398,765,886 and 49,052,743,983.

    Other appropriations under the National Assembly are as follows: legislative aides, 9,602,095,928; NASS Service Commission, 2,415,712,873; PAC-Senate, N118,970,215; N142,764,258; General Services, N12,584,672,079; NASS Legislative Institute, 4,373,813,596; and Service Wide Vote, 391,396,169.

    The National Assembly also appropriated N2,987,550,033,436 for non-debt recurrent expenditure of the MDAs that are not under statutory transfers club.

    Capital expenditure is slightly less, taking N2,177,866,775867.

    For debt service, the National Assembly earmarked N1,488,002,436,547 to service domestic debts; N175,882,993,952 for foreign debts; and 177,460,296707 for sinking fund to retire maturing loans, totalling 1,841,345,727,206 for debt service.

    The Clause 11 of the bill, referenced in the harmonized report, provides that the budget will run for a course of 12 months starting from the date is assented into law, in line with Section of the Constitution.

    In his remark, Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, reckoned that the 2017 budget marked the first time capital expenditure would reach 30 per cent.

  • #OpenNass: Nigerians hail Saraki, Dogara for unveiling NASS budget, ending 8-yr of secrecy

    The National Assembly, Thursday, for the first time, published the details of its budget, beginning with the 2017 budget, to underscore transparency as earlier promised by the President of the 8th Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

    Reacting to the recent landmark, some Nigerians who expressed their views on the internet hailed the law making body and its leadership, Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara for complying with their earnest call for #opennass.

    Recall that Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had earlier promised Nigerians that he’ll heed the calls for an Open National Assembly (#OpenNASS) in order to ensure everyone gets to see the line-item allocations of the legislative arm.

    The Appropriations Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives separately presented their harmonised reports of the budget for consideration and subsequent passage on Thursday.

    According to the report, N434.4 billion was appropriated for statutory transfers to the National Judicial Council (N100 billion); Niger Delta Development Commission (N64.02 billion); Universal Basic Education (N95.2 billion); National Assembly (N125 billion); Public Complaints Commission (N4 billion); INEC (N45 billion); and National Human Rights Commission (N1.2 billion).

    The seven establishments are to get allocations on first line charge. In practice, the spending details of these offices are not made public.

    But the spokesperson for the Senate, Aliyu Abdullahi, told Journalists details of the National Assembly budget are included in the whole national budget, ending eight years of secrecy.

    “We have opened our budget,” he said. “Details are in the (whole) budget, that’s what I have come to tell you.”

  • Breaking: Reps pass 2017 budget

    Breaking: Reps pass 2017 budget

    The House of Representatives today passed the 2017 budget of N7.441 trillion.

    The lawmakers, who commenced the consideration of the report of the appropriation committee at 12:15.pm, passed the budget at exactly 1.pm.

    The budget figure, TheNewsGuru.com lerant was increased by N143 billion from the N7.298trn proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to N7.441trn.

    It was observed that against the initial proposal of N115bn for the National Assembly budget, the lawmakers jerked their budget to N125bn, making an increase of N10bn.

    It was further observed that there was no objection to the budget from any lawmaker, except when some lawmakers shouted in protest for the N51bn allocated to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

    The Senate is still considering the budget document.

  • 2017 Budget: Senate in closed session

    2017 Budget: Senate in closed session

    The senate is currently in a closed door session ahead of the passage of the 2017 budget.

    Recall that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had on Tuesday shortly after the budget report was laid said it will be considered and passed today.

    However, shortly after taking prayers on Thursday, Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, drew the attention of the Senate to the demise of a businessman, Ahmadu Chanchangi.

    The passage of the 2017 budget report, according to the senate Order Paper was supposed to follow the prayers, but the senators, dissolved into a closed session.

  • JUST IN: National Assembly raises 2017 budget by N143bn

    JUST IN: National Assembly raises 2017 budget by N143bn

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday received the report of 2017 N7.30tn Appropriation Bill from its Committee on Appropriation for final consideration.

    The report indicated that the committee increased the budget to N7.44tn, representing an addition of about N143bn to the one presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on Dec. 14, 2016.

    After the receipt of the bill, the House referred it to the Appropriation Committee on Jan. 26, 2017, but its processing suffered delay due to the inability of other committees to tidy their reports in time.

    Presenting the report at plenary, Chairman of the committee, Rep. Mustapha Dawaki, said that the committee worked with other committees in the House to arrive at the new figure for the budget.

    According to the report, N434.4bn is for statutory transfer, N1.84tn for debt servicing and N177.46bn is for sinking Fund for maturing bonds.

    The committee appropriated N2.99tn for recurrent (Non-Debt) expenditure, while N2.17tn was provided for contribution to the development fund for Capital Expenditure.

     

     

     

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