Reps raise 2015 budget by N135.4bn to N4.493trn

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the sum of N4.493 trillion budget for 2015 fiscal year with an increase of N135.4 billion from the N4,357,960,000,000 proposed by the executive in November 2014.

However, the amount, N4,493,363,957,158, passed at the Committee of the Whole was N67,433,759,158 higher than the N425,425,930,000 amended budget presented by the executive.

Under the statutory transfer, Niger Delta Development Commission’s allocation was raised from N45.780 billion to N46.720 billion; Universal Basic Education’s allocation was raised from N67.3 billion to N68.380 billion; National Assembly’s allocation was raised from N115 billion to N120 billion; Public Complaint Commission’s allocation was raised from N2 billion to N4 billion while National Human Rights Commission’s allocation was raised from N1.2 billion to N1.516 billion.

Meanwhile, the House retained the sum of N73 billion for the National Judicial Council and N62 billion for Independent National Electoral Commission.

The House also adopted the $53 oil benchmark, 2.2782mbpd, N190/US dollar as exchange rate.

Breakdown of the final amount passed showed that N375.616 billion is for statutory transfer; N953.620 billion is for debt service; N2,607,132,491,708 is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the sum of N556,995,465,449 is for capital expenditure in statutory transfer inclusive of N144.420 billion for contribution to the development fund capital expenditure.

From the total sum of N2,607,132,491,708 approved for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, education gets the highest allocation of N392,242,784,654, followed by defence/MOD/Army/Air Force/Navy with N338,797,219,431 and police formation and commands with N303,822,224,611 while the sum of N237,075,742,847 is for health sector.

The breakdown shows that the sum of N153,330,022,460 is for interior; N69,423,427,479 is for youth development; N62,226,771,999 is for Office of the National Security Adviser; N58,274,429,975 is for petroleum resources; N48,389,942,264 is for office of the secretary to the government of the federation; N41,649,382,166 is for foreign affairs while N31,869,020,717 is for agriculture and rural development.

The sum of N26,590,103,366 is for science and technology; N25,173,916,543 is for works; N23,682,420,241 is for information; N20,085,865,120 is for the presidency; N18,081,478,935 is for tourism, culture and national orientation; N15,559,334,341 is for environment; N10,941,859,480 is for trade and investment while N10,592,048,381 is for communication technology.