Reps grudgingly pass N1.060 trillion 2016 budget

Taking a cue from the Upper Chamber, The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the 2016 Appropriation bill with a proviso that Section 318 of the 1999 constitution must be strictly adhered to.

Section 318 stipulated that the Appropriation bill will run for a course of 12 months starting from the date it is assented into law.

While considering the bill for second reading at the Committee of Supply chaired by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the lawmakers made it clear that Excess Crude Account is alien to the constitution and should no longer be operational.

The budget was bench marked at $38.

However, the mood of the lawmakers was difficult to guage when the item for N100b Constituency project came up for approval as pockets of voices were raised.

The lawmakers also questioned, through loud murmurs, when an item N3.43b Bulk Trader in addition to N10b Sinking Fund came up for adoption.

However while defending its work at a press briefing  on the document, the joint Appropriation Committee said almost all parts of the bill presented to the National Assembly were tinkered with except President Muhammadu Buhari’s N500b intervention programmes.

Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman, Danjuma Goje said: “We did not tinker with it, nobody asked any questions we just approved it be vase we believe, the interventions can touch the lives of Nigerians.”

Read also: At last, Senate pass 2016 budget

Goje also disclosed that when calculated, what was passed yesterday was N1.05 trillion as the capital component of the expenditures of some agencies in the Presidency were not available to the Committee.

“When the capital components of the expenditure of all those Commissions were added, then it will amount to N1.060 trillion,” he added.

Abdulmumin Jibrin, Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation said it was the first time since 1999 that the country is witnessing a reduction in aggregate expenditure.

He said though the budget estimates was huge, but contrary to widely held believe that the National Assembly would add to it, the reverse was the case as N17b was reduced from the initial estimate.

“We all know the challenges that accompanied this bill and often times, with overheads being most contentious.

“We engaged the Executive and the Budget Office on it because we also discovered that several critical items that were not in the budget. We had to allocate funds to those areas.”

 

 

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