The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the aggregate Federal Government expenditure of N13.98 trillion proposed for the 2022 budget.
This amount comprises a total recurrent (non-debt) expenditure of N6.21 trillion; personnel cost (MDAs) of N3.47 trillion; capital expenditure (non- transfers) of N3.26 trillion; special intervention (recurrent) of N350 billion; and special intervention (capital) of N10 billion.
The House gave the approval after the consideration and adoption of a report of the committee on finance on the 2022–2024 Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).
It also approved the daily crude oil production of 1.88mbpd, benchmark oil price of $57per barrel for 2022; exchange rate of N410.15/$ for the 2022-2024, projected GDP growth rate of 4.20 percent; inflation rate of 13.00 percent; fiscal deficit estimate of N5.62 trillion (including GOEs) and the projected new borrowings of N4.89 trillion (including foreign and domestic).
In the report presented by the chairman of the finance committee, James Faleke, the House recommended a continuous review of the Fiscal Responsibility Act to ensure that all revenues are remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) as at when due, in order to curtail frivolous deductions and diversion of funds by ministries, department agencies (MDAs).
The House equally recommended the urgent implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in order to curtail the problems of smuggling and round-tripping of petroleum products imported into the country to save the under-recovery cost and budget review to purge some MDAs that demonstrated capacity to stand on their own without any recourse to the federation budget.
“All laws relating to mining businesses should be reviewed as a matter of urgency to ensure upward review of rates applied to royalties, ground rent and licenses renewal of all mining companies operating in Nigeria to ensure transparency in the collection of revenue by the relevant agencies of the government and also look into the issues of illegal mining activities by recommending stringent sanctions in the proposed new laws.
“The Nigerian Customs Service should accelerate the process of installing scanners at all ports across the country to curb the issue of underpayment of Custom duties on imported goods which has resulted in huge loss of revenue to the government and to further improve it activities at all borders across the country in order to curb the issues of smuggling across border areas”, it added.
