House passes revised budget, increases sum to N10.805tn

Approves $5.513bn external loan

Chuks Okocha, Deji Elumoye, Adedayo Akinwale and Udora Orizu in Abuja

The House of Representatives wednesday passed the revised 2020 budget, increasing the sum from N10.59 trillion to N10.805 trillion.
The Senate is expected to consider the revised fiscal bill for possible passage today.

The budget was passed after a clause-by-clause consideration of the report submitted by the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Mukhtar Betara.

While considering the budget, the House included N4 billion vote to address the hazards and welfares of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) who are threatening to embark on strike, thereby increasing the figure submitted to the House by the committee.
The House also approved the request by President Muhammadu Buhari for the federal government to obtain external loans totalling $5.513 billion to finance budget deficits.

During the consideration of the budget, Betara said the increase in the revised budget was for interventions to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country.

In the legislation entitled: ‘A Bill for an Act to amend the Appropriation Act, 2020 to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N10,801,544,664,642 (raised by N4,000,000,000),’ N422.77 billion was allocated for Statutory Transfers and N2.951 trillion for debt service.
Also, N4.938 trillion is allocated to recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while N2.488 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure.

The Public Complaints Commission took N4.700 billion; Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) N36 billion; National Human Rights Commission N2.250 billion; North East Development Commission N20.944 billion while Basic Health Care Fund got N25.560 billion.

For statutory transfers, the National Judicial Council got N110 billion; Niger-Delta Development Commission N44.200 billion; Universal Basic Education N51.120 billion and the National Assembly N128 billion

Out of the N2.951 trillion allocation for debt service, domestic debts got N1. 873 trillion; foreign debts
N805. 470 billion and sinking fund to retire maturing loans allocated N272. 900 billion.

The e Senate will today consider the revised 2020 budget for possible passage.

The President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, gave the hint yesterday during plenary after the Committee on Appropriation submitted the report on the 2020 revised budget to the Senate.

“Tomorrow (today), we can receive and consider the report to ensure that we don’t delay anything as important as that. So, this is the essence of altering the order paper,” Lawan said.

The Senate on Tuesday had deferred presentation of the report over a delay by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, to provide details for N186 billion, an amount which is part of the N500 billion COVID-19 intervention fund.

Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Barau Jibrin, also on Tuesday, had told his colleagues that the finance ministry was yet to comply with the request of the committee to attach details for the amount to be captured as part of the 2020 budget amendment bill.
However, Lawan yesterday said the ministry had provided the details for the outstanding N186 billion.

The development, according to him, makes it expedient for the Senate to consider the revised 2020 budget today during plenary. (ThisDay)