At the signing which took place inside the Council Chambers of the State House, Abuja, the president reiterated that government would abide strictly by the January-December budget cycle.
He said the budget had to be revised because of the impact of coronavirus on the nation’s economy.
The vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, chief of staff to the president, Ibrahim Gambari, witnessed the signing witnessed the signing, as well as Senate President Ahmed Lawan, speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and other principal officers of the National Assembly.
Others who witnessed the signing are the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed; minister of state for finance, Clement Agba; governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and director-general of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze
The N10.805 trillion 2020 revised budget passed by the National Assembly saw the Federal Government’s basic health-care budget drop from N44.4bn to N25.5bn, a decrease of more than 42.5 percent.
The revised budget was increased from the proposed sum N10.509 trillion to N10.805 trillion, making a N296 billion difference from the amount sent by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Based on the revised appropriation as passed by the House, statutory transfers also known as the first line charge (a category into which the National Assembly budget falls), was increased from N398 billion (N398,505,979,362) to N422 billion (N422,775,979,362).
The lawmakers also added N4 billion to “take care of hazard and other welfare packages for resident doctors not hitherto captured”.
Highlights of the budget show that N2.6 trillion was approved for debt service and N2.9 trillion for sinking funds.
The new budget is also N211 billion higher than the N10.594 trillion passed by the legislature in December 2019 before it was revised to N10.509 trillion against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The budget allocated N422.77 billion for statutory transfers and N2.951 trillion for debt service.
The sum of N4.938 trillion is allocated for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the sum of N2.488 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for capital expenditure.
Under the statutory transfers, the National Judicial Council took N110 billion, Niger-Delta Development Commission N44.200 billion, Universal Basic Education N51.120 billion, and National Assembly N128 billion.
The Public Complaints Commission was allocated N4.700 billion, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) N36 billion, National Human Right Commission N2.250 billion, North East Development Commission N20.944 billion, while Basic Health Care Fund got N25.560 billion.
Out of the N2.951 trillion allocation for debt service, domestic debts got N1.873 trillion, foreign debts took N805.470 billion, and sinking fund to retire maturing loans is allocated N272.900 billion.
SOURCE:BUSINESS DAY
