The House of Representatives has okayed about N17.13 trillion as aggregate expenditure of federal government in the 2022 fiscal year, a fugure that is up by N74 billion higher than President Muhammadu Buhari’s initial proposal of N16.39 trillion.
Of the aggregate expenditure of the N17.13 trillion, N869.67, billion has been earmarked for Statutory Transfers, N3.88 trillion for Debt Service, N6,91 trillion for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure while the sum of N5.47 trillion, is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending 31 December, 2022.
The chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Mukhtar Betara, who laid report of the budget before members, the proposed capital, recurrent, debt service, statutory transfers were not tempered with, explaining that provision had to be made for an increase of N400 billion for agencies which came with financial reports not captured in the proposed budget, giving some of such to include INEC, Ministries of Humanitarian Affairs, the National Assembly, and others.
Some key contents of the passed bill include the increase of the crude oil benchmark price from $57 to $62 per barrel, and also a provision for 10 percent made for monies recovered by EFCC and the National Financial Intelligence Unit to be utilised by the agencies for their operations, to strengthen their fight against corruption in the country.
Prior to consideration and passage of the budget, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila in a remark, called for the need to reform the envelop budgeting system for MDAs.
“During consideration of the 2022 Appropriation Bill, we were inundated with requests for funding from Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, all of whom require additional funding to effectively discharge their mandates.
“We recognise the genuine urgency of many of these requests and we have tried within the reality of limited revenues to meet the most critical needs. However, one thing that is now abundantly clear is that the legislature needs to act to reform the envelope system currently in place because it imposes conditions that do not make for optimal outcomes. At the same time, we must begin also to consider options for merging agencies where there is a significant overlap in functions and responsibilities, and scrapping other institutions where their utility is no longer apparent,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the House has extended the lifespan of capital component of the 2021 budget by 90 days.
This followed a motion by Majority Leader, Alhassan Doguwa, who stated that due to the cumbersome nature of procurement processes, a lot of strategic projects were still ongoing, requiring the extension for cornered MDAs to continue implementation, a request the House adopted unanimously.
