Senate passes N10.8trn revised 2020 budget

The Nigerian Senate, on Thursday, passed the Appropriation Act (Amendment) Bill, approving a budget of N10.805 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year, after consideration of a report by its Committee on Appropriations.

Recall that the country’s House of Representatives had on Wednesday passed a revised 10.8 trillion budget, raising the revised spending plan of President Muhammadu Buhari by N296 billion late last month, basing oil prices at $28 per barrel up from the expected oil price by $3 per barrel.

Of the sum of N10,805,544,664,642 to be issued from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, according to the breakdown, N422.776 billion is for Statutory transfers; N2.952 trillion is for Debt Service; N4.942 trillion is for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure; and N2.489 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure .

Ahmad Lawan, President of the Senate, in his remarks after the budget was passed, charged the various Senate Committees to ensure strict oversight of projects contained in the 2020 budget, while ensuring that Nigerians are impacted positively through government interventions and programmes.

“For us, this is one way of ensuring that Nigerians feel the presence of government through the various interventions, the programmes and projects.

“We have done this, but we have other things waiting for us in relation to this. We are supposed to ensure that we oversight on these projects, and more especially when we have to borrow money to fund some of these projects, it is very crucial that we ensure there is value for money.

“Every project that is mentioned here should be implemented appropriately and accordingly. So, all our standing Committees should ensure that we continue to carry out our oversight”, the Senate President said.