National Assembly passes N7.44 trillion budget for 2017

11 May 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

The N7.44 trillion budget passed by the National Assembly is 2.2 percent higher than the N7.298 trillion spending plan proposed by the president in December 2016.

Nigerian Acting President Yemi Osinbajo

The National Assembly passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill on Thursday, almost five months after President Muhammadu Buhari presented the budget to the legislature on December 14, 2016.

The Senate and House of Representatives separately passed the appropriation bill of N7.44 trillion, which is 2.2 percent higher than the N7.298 trillion spending plan proposed by the president last year.

A partial breakdown of some items on the 2017 budget shows that N434.4 billion was appropriated for statutory transfers with National Judicial Council receiving 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.

For the first time in eight years, the National Assembly included its own budget in the 2017 appropriation bill. The legislature allocated N125 billion for its activities this year, up from N115 billion in 2016.

A partial breakdown of the budget shows that the National Assembly Management has been allocated N14.92 billion; the Senate, N31.4 billion; the House of Reps, N49.05 billion; General Services, N12.58 billion; Legislative Aides, N9.6 billion; NASS Service Commission, N2.42 billion; and NASS Legislative Institute, N4.37 billion.

“For the first time, the budget contains full details of the National Assembly, not only line by line, but explicitly,” said Senator Dino Melaye during today’s plenary session. “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.”


Other Photos/Videos

Advertisement