National Assembly Passes 2016 Budget; Ministry Of Power, Works & Housing Gets N433.4b

The National Assembly in Nigeria has passed the 2016 budget of 6.06 trillion Naira.

The budget passed on Wednesday by the Senate and the House of Representatives was 17 billion Naira lower than the figure of 6.07 trillion Naira presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly in December.

There’s been a lot of debate about the allocation of various Ministry and Agencies. However, we now know that the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got what seems to be the largest chunk of N433.4b

The Senate Committee on Appropriation had earlier presented a budget of 6.06 trillion Naira to the Senate for passage.

In its report, the Committee set recurrent expenditure at 2.6 trillion Naira, capital expenditure at 1.5 trillion Naira and fiscal deficit at 2.2 trillion Naira.

It observed that the executive presented the budget late to the National Assembly and this had subsequently delayed the passage.

The Committee also noted that the budget, as presented by the executive, was fraught with inconsistencies, as some Ministers disowned their budgets.

It also recommended that going forward, the Budget Office must work with Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in preparing the budget to avoid the problem of inadequate revenue for MDAs.

The 2016 budget will now be sent to President Buhari for assent.

However, it is one thing for the budget to be approved by the President it is quite another thing for the executive to implement the budget, as envisaged by the federal lawmakers.