- President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday last week presented a ₦16.39 trillion budget proposal for the 2022 fiscal year
The Senate, on Wednesday, passed the 2022 Appropriation Bill for second reading after over one hour of debate on its general principles.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday last week presented a ₦16.39 trillion budget proposal for the 2022 fiscal year.
He said out of the total expenditure of ₦16.39 trillion proposed for the Federal Government in 2022, ₦768.28 is for Statutory Transfers; ₦6.83 trillion is for Non-debt Recurrent Costs; and ₦4.11 trillion for Personnel Costs, among others.
The budget has a deficit of ₦6.26 trillion, an amount representing 3.39 per cent of estimated GDP.
The lawmakers, during the debate, expressed concerns over the increasing fiscal deficit and the government’s penchant for borrowing to fund capital projects.
Read also: 2022 Budget: Presidency To Spend ₦5.23bn On Renovation Of Aso Villa
While some defended the borrowings, which the executive arm said was meant to fund the building of the much-needed infrastructure, others advocated Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as an alternative to loans.
A Rivers State Senator, Betty Apiafy (PDP), countered claims that the country was not over borrowing, noting that Nigeria’s debt to revenue ratio at over 70 per cent is among the highest in Africa.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan defended the federal government’s borrowings but said the loans must be judiciously deployed.
“Borrowing is not bad, but we need to ensure that what we borrow is judiciously deployed,” he said.
Lawan, therefore, urged the National Assembly committees to step up their oversight of the executive to ensure that government resources were prudently used.
The bill, after scaling the second reading, was referred to the Senate Committee on Appropriations to report back in four weeks.
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