DESPITE yesterday’s passage of the N4.485 trillion 2011 Budget by the National Assembly, the controversy surrounding the 2011 Appropriation Amendment Bill may not be over yet.
Against President Goodluck Jonathan’s request after signing the bill – that in an amendment the projected expenditure of N4.971 trillion be slashed by N564 billion – the Senate and the House of Representatives raised the bar by N77.7 billion, reducing the estimate by N487 billion.
Both chambers passed a harmonised Appropriation Amendment Bill of N4.485 trillion, thereby raising the presidential proposal by N77.68 billion.
The Senate gave the Amendment Bill a speedy passage.
The Bill went through the first, second and third reading quickly.
The N4.485 trillion budget comprises N417.8 billion for statutory transfer, N495 billion for debt servicing, N2.4 trillion for recurrent (non debt) expenditure and N1.147 trillion for capital expenditure.
The statutory transfer of N387.8 billion was increased by N30 billion, recurrent expenditure of N2.4 trillion rose by N23.7 billion, capital expenditure of N1.122 trillion went up by N23.9 billion.
A breakdown of the budget passed by the Senate yesterday also showed that the increment of the Statutory Transfer by N30 billion is accounted for by the increase of National Assembly fund to N150 billion against the N120 billion proposed by the President in the Amendment Bill.
The figure excludes the N1.59 billion provided in lieu of accommodation for the Seventh Session of the National Assembly under Service Wide Votes.
The combined capital and recurrent expenditures showed that Education will get the highest allocation of N356.5 billion, defence (N348 billion), Police formation and commands (N295.7 billion).
The Health sector came fourth on the combined expenditures with N257.9 billion, Works (N182 billion), Interior (N142 billion).
On recurrent expenditure, Presidency is to get N27.3 billion, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) (N62.8 billion) and Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) (N50.9 billion).
Under capital expenditure, transport is to get N53 billion, Niger Delta (N51.9 billion) and Power (N87 billion).
While pensions and gratuities will get N154.7 billion, N98 billion is for Presidential Amnesty Programme. Increase in pension rates (N25 billion). Increase in Minimum Wage for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) (N5b).
Presenting the report to the Senate yesterday, the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore said: "The President assented to the bill. However, the executive observed that the deficits projected in the budget proposal submitted to the National Assembly needs to be reduced by minimising the domestic borrowing components to give the economy a breathing space."
"In response to the above, the Senate Committee on Appropriation in collaboration with the House counterpart and the Federal Ministry of Finance reviewed the budget downwards in line with its agreed benchmark," he added.
Senate President David Mark said: "I will tell the executive arm that as we have passed the amended budget, they should be able to implement it in full."
The House of Representatives also raised the Appropriation Amendment Bill by N77 billion.
Jonathan had on Tuesday sent the bill of N4,407,052, 300,582 to the House for consideration and passage.
But the House passed the sum of N4,484,736, 684, 992 as the total budget for the country.
The Budget passed by the National Assembly in March was deserted by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, as not implemen-table.
The President prevaricated over signing the Appropriated passed by the National Assembly but eventually endorsed it on Monday.
He, however, forwarded the Appropriation Amendment Bill which reduced the figure from N4.971 trillion to N4.407 trillion.
He specifically slashed the National Assembly vote which the lawmakers fixed at N232 billion to N120 billion, a reduction of N112 billion.
The House also jerked up the National Assembly vote from N120 billion to N150 billion as it was down at the Senate.
The House also awarded additional N1 billion to the Presidency bringing the total to N27.283 billion instead of N26.583 billion contained in the amendment bill.
In the same vein, the lawmakers gave additional N4 billion to the Office of the SGF bringing the total to N62.750 billion instead of N57.604 billion contained in the amendment bill.
The Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Ayo Adeseun presented the report of the House Joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance.
He said: "This House do receive the report of the Joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance on a Bill for an Act to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N4,484,736,684,992 only of which the sum of N417,824,288,743 only is for statutory transfer and the sum of N495,096,682,115 only is for Debt Service while the sum of N2,425,065,124,967 only is for recurrent (Non Debt) expenditure and the balance of N1,146,750,553,167 only is for Development Fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on 31st December 2011."
There was not much debate as the money bill received accelerated treatment and was passed without further amendment.
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