President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday presented a total budget of N16.39 trillion for the year 2022 to the National Assembly.
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, said the National Assembly is committed to passing the budget before the end of year.
Speaking at the assembly chambers, the President tagged the appropriation bill “a Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability.”
He said the budget will focus on diversifying the economy, with robust MSME growth; investing in critical infrastructure; strengthening security and ensuring good governance; enabling a vibrant, educated and healthy populace; reducing poverty; and minimizing regional, economic and social disparities.
“Defence and internal security will continue to be our top priority,” the President said. “We remain firmly committed to the security of life, property and investment nationwide.
“We will continue to ensure that our gallant men and women in the armed forces, police and paramilitary units are properly equipped, remunerated and well-motivated.”
He also noted that the 2022 budget is the first time in Nigerian history, “where MDAs were clearly advised on gender responsive budgeting.
“These are part of critical steps in our efforts to distribute resources fairly and reach vulnerable groups of our society,” he said.
Earlier, The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday had approved a N16.39 trillion budget.At least, N5.012 trillion is to be financed by borrowing, raising concerns over the nation’s debt sustainability.
The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has said the government needs to borrow to finance “developmental projects in the form of roads, rails, bridges, power and water for sustainable development in this country.
“If we just depend on the revenues that we get, even though our revenues have increased, the operational expenditure of government, including salaries and other overheads, is barely covered or swallowed up by the revenue.”
The budget to presented fixed the price of oil at $57 at 1.88 million barrels of oil per day and the exchange rate at N410.15.
Oil revenues and non-oil revenues were also set at N3.15 trillion and N2.13 trillion respectively.
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