The Senate has passed for second reading the 2015 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Statutory Appropriation bill totalling N174,068,999,970.
The bill was subsequently referred to the Committee on FCT and expected back in plenary on Tuesday next week. Out of this sum, N46,034,684,503 is for personnel cost; N28,589,912,096 for overhead costs and N99,444,403,371 for capital expenditure.
In his lead debate on Thursday, Senate leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, noted that the FCT statutory budget proposal of N174 billion is N96,973,545,942 lesser than last year’s appropriation of N271,042,545,912, representing 35 percent decrease.
He hinged the decrease on the volatility of the oil price which had reduced revenue accruing to the FCTA from statutory allocation as its main source as well as the fall in the exchange rate of naira to dollar.
According to him, the thrust of the budget is to ensure an effective and enduring service-oriented administration which would consolidate on the gains of the programmes of the administration over the years.
