By JAMES KWEN
The House of Representatives on has passed the 2023 appropriation budget, jerking the N20.51 trillion submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari to
N21.82 trillion.
This was sequel to the consideration and approval of the report of the House committee on appropriation at plenary by the committee on supply at plenary on Wednesday.
Of the total sum, N967.48 billion is for statutory transfers,
N6.55 trillion is for debt service, N8.32 trillion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the sum of N5.97 trillion is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2023.
Under the statutory transfers, the National Judicial Council takes
N165 billion; Niger-Delta Development Commission gets
N119.93 billion, Universal Basic Education N103.28 billion; Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) N173.63 billion; National Human Right Commission N4.5 billion; North East Development Commission
N59.03 billion; Basic Health Care Fund N51.64 billion and National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) N51.64 billion.
Also from the statutory transfers,
National Assembly Severance/Inauguration of outgoing and incoming 9th and 10th Assembly (Legislators and Legislative Aides) is allocated N30.17 billion,
National Assembly Office gulps N30.49 billion; Senate N33.26 billion, House of Representatives N51.99 billion; National Assembly Service Commission N10.55 billion; National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS)
N7.41billion and Service Wide Vote
N671.3 million.
Further breakdown showed that
Office of Retired Clerks and Permanent Secretaries take N1.05 billion, National Assembly Library Building N4.25 billion; Constitution Review N850 million; Completion of NILDS headquarters N2.5 billion;
Construction of National Assembly Service Commission Building N10 billion and Public Complaints Commission N10.69 billion.
Under debt service, domestic debts (including Ways and Means) get
N4.49 trillion; foreign debts is allocated N1.81 trillion; sinking fund to retire maturing loans takes
N247.72 billion.
For the recurrent expenditure (Non-debt), the presidency is allocated N76.40 billion, defence gets N1.09 trillion, ministry of foreign affairs N93.68 billion,
federal ministry of information & culture N59.82 billion; interior
N278.69 billion; Police Affairs
N777.40 billion; communications and digital economy N32.13 billion; National Security Adviser N172.60 billion and Secretary to the Government of the Federation takes N70.08 billion.
Also for the recurrent expenditure,
Federal Ministry of Special Duties & Inter-Governmental Affairs gets
N4.79 billion; Agriculture and Rural Development N85.41 billion; Finance, Budget and National Planning N29.99 billion; Industry, Trade and Investment N16.82 billion; Labour and Employment
N15.52 billion, Science, Technology and Innovation N52.33 billion; Transport N18.01 billion;
Aviation N9.43 billion; Petroleum Resources N33.15 billion and Works and Housing N34.98 billion.
For the capital expenditure, Presidency is allocated N20.11 billion, defence gets N285 billion, Foreign Affairs N5.85 billion; Information & Culture N11.87 billion; Interior N45.62 billion; Police N60.64 billion; National Security Adviser N70.33 billion; Agriculture and Rural Development
N248.35 billion, Finance, Budget and National Planning N166.74 billion.
Further breakdown of the capital expenditure indicated that Science, Technology and Innovation is allocated N132.57 billion; Transport N74.26 billion; Aviation
N49.41 billion;Â Power N56.14 billion; Works and Housing N398.27 billion; Federal Capital Territory Administration N15.47 billion; Education N153.73 billion; Health
N134.90 billion and Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development N32.05 billion.
Also, the House at plenary the House approved the N819.54 billion supplementary budget sent by President Muhammadu Buhari last week.
Buhari had in a letter to Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House, said the request was meant for the capital expenditure component of the 2022 budget and would be financed through new domestic borrowings.
The approval followed the adoption of report presented by Muktar Betara, the chairman, House committee on Appropriation.
According to the report, the total sum of N819, 536,937,813 was for the under-mentioned Ministries: “Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development N69,247,175,770, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing N704,789,762,043, Federal Capital Territory N30,000,000,000 and Federal Ministry of Water Resources N15,500,000,000.”
Similarly, the House passed a bill for an Act to Amend the Appropriation Act, 2022 to extend the implementation of the capital
aspect of the current budget from 31 December, 2022 to 31 March, 2023; and for related
matters.
The lawmakers also passed the Finance bill, 2022 which was transmitted to them by President Buhari to provide support for the funding of the 2023 budget.
The Finance bill proposed amendments to a number of fiscal laws such as the capital gains tax, company income tax, customs excise tariff Act, Federal Inland Revenue Service Act, personal income tax and stamp duties act.
Furthermore, the House approved a total of N262.95 budget for for Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS) for the 2023 fiscal year
It followed the consideration and adoption of report presented by
James Faleke, the chairman House committee on finance by the committee on supply.
Presenting the report, Faleke said from the total amount, N126,070,912,538 is for Personnel Cost, N96,061,565,065 is for Overhead Cost and the sum of N40,827,033,352 is for Capital Expenditure for the service year ending December 2023.