CEM REPORT, FINANCE | The House of Representatives has increased the N20.51 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to N21.82 trillion.
Consequent upon the consideration and approval of the report of the House committee on appropriation which presented an increase of over N1 trillion proposed estimates of the executive at plenary on Wednesday, the House passed the 2023 appropriation budget.
A breakdown of the new appropriation budget reveals that N6.55 trillion is for debt service, N8.32 trillion is for recurrent expenditure (non-debt) while N5.97 trillion is set aside for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on December 31, 2023.
Furthermore breakdown of debt service allocation reveals that domestic debts (including Ways and Means) get N4.49 trillion; foreign debts are allocated N1.81 trillion; sinking fund to retire maturing loans takes N247.72 billion.
For recurrent expenditure (Non-debt) the presidency is allocated N76.40 billion, defence gets N1.09 trillion, the 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.
Still, on recurrent expenditure, the 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.
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.
Further breakdown of the capital expenditure indicated 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.
Statutory transfers received N967.48 billion for which 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.
[READ ALSO] Nigeria Economy to Plunge Further Downward in 2023 – Expert.
Similarly, the House approved the N819.54 billion supplementary budget sent by President Muhammadu Buhari last week.
The approval of the request followed the adoption of a report presented by Muktar Betara, the chairman of, the House Committee on Appropriation.
Recall a CEM report where Buhari had in a letter addressed to Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House, said the request was meant for the capital expenditure component of the 2022 budget and would be financed through new domestic borrowings.
According to the report, the total sum of N819, 536,937,813 was for the under-mentioned Ministries: “Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development N69,247,175,770, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing N704,789,762,043, Federal Capital Territory N30,000,000,000 and Federal Ministry of Water Resources N15,500,000,000.”
Also, the House passed a bill for an Act to Amend the Appropriation Act, 2022 to extend the implementation of the capital
The lawmakers also passed the Finance bill, 2022 which was transmitted to them by President Buhari to provide support for the funding of the 2023 budget.
Recall that the Finance bill proposed amendments to several fiscal laws such as the capital gains tax, company income tax, customs excise tariff Act, Federal Inland Revenue Service Act, personal income tax and stamp duties act.
In the same vein, the House approved a total of N262.95 budget for Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS) for the 2023 fiscal year
That followed the consideration and adoption of the report presented by James Faleke, the chairman House committee on finance by the committee on supply.
Presenting the report, Faleke said from the total sum, “N126,070,912,538 is for Personnel Cost, N96,061,565,065 is for Overhead Cost and the sum of N40,827,033,352 is for Capital Expenditure for the service year ending December 2023.”