President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a supplementary appropriation bill for
\nthe 2015 fiscal year to the Senate for approval.<\/p>\n
The president, in a letter conveying his request, which was read during
\nplenary, by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, asked the Senate to grant
\nhis request to borrow the sum of N2.10 trillion to finance the budget.<\/p>\n
He explained that the N882 billion loan earlier proposed by the past
\ngovernment to finance the budget had to be raised to N2.10 trillion, due
\nto emerging realities in the country.<\/p>\n
According to the president the source of the loan would be from both local
\nand foreign.<\/p>\n
Also, Buhari on Wednesday laid before the National Assembly a
\nsupplementary budget of N465.6bn for 2015.<\/p>\n
Out of the figure, N460bn was allocated to recurrent expenditure, with
\nsubsidy on petrol taking N413.3bn of the N460bn.<\/p>\n
Also included in the recurrent component was N10.6bn for the payment of
\noutstanding severance gratuity and allowances to members of the National
\nAssembly and their aides.<\/p>\n
Others captured under the recurrent component were Nigerian Army (N17bn);
\nNigerian Air force (N8bn); and another N4bn set aside for \u201cNigerian Army
\noutstanding balance from 2015 Second Quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The balance of N5.6bn was earmarked for capital expenditure, with the bulk
\nof N5bn to be spent on victims\u2019 support funds.<\/p>\n
At the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, read the
\nPresident\u2019s letter to lawmakers.<\/p>\n
The budget immediately passed first reading and was scheduled for second
\nreading on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the urgency of this matter, the second reading of the bill will be
\ndone on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cCopies should be circulated to members so that they will be prepared for
\nthe debate\u201d, Dogara stated.<\/p>\n
The President had recalled that the Federal Government originally budgeted
\nN4.485trillion as aggregate expenditure for 2015.<\/p>\n
However, he acknowledged that the budget faced challenges of
\nimplementation, owing largely to revenue shortfalls.<\/p>\n
He explained that the challenges and the increasing security threats in
\nthe country had made it necessary for the government to opt for
\nsupplementary funding.<\/p>\n
Part of the letter reads, \u201cThe implementation of the 2015 budget has been
\nfraught with significant revenue shortfalls due to continuous decline in
\nthe oil price, oil production shortfall and non-full realisation of
\nnon-oil revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may wish to further note that owing to the need to sustain the
\ncurrent progress in addressing the security challenges and other important
\nobligations of the government, emergency expenditure items requiring
\nurgent funding is projected at N465.6bn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2015 budget had been pegged at a crude oil benchmark of $53 per barrel.<\/p>\n
However, global market prices have been below $50 per barrel for several
\nmonths running.<\/p>\n
The President added that the original 2015 budget had a deficit component
\nof N1.04tn, financed mainly through domestic borrowing of N502.1bn and a
\nforeign borrowing profile of N380bn.<\/p>\n
He said the two borrowing windows put the country\u2019s total borrowing
\ninitially at N882.12bn.<\/p>\n
But, with the supplementary budget, Buhari told the National Assembly that
\nthe budget deficit had increased to N2.103tn, while borrowing would jump
\nto N1.601tn.<\/p>\n
The letter further reads, \u201cAccordingly, I deem it necessary to formally
\nrequest the concurrence of the National Assembly to please consider and
\napprove an upward review of the fiscal deficit from 1.09 per cent of GDP
\nto 2.19 per cent of GDP;<\/p>\n
\u201cAn upward revision of the new borrowing from N882.1bn to N2.103tn and a
\nnew funding requirement to address security challenges and other important
\nobligations in the sum of N465.6bn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Debate on the proposed is expected to start today at the House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a supplementary appropriation bill for the 2015 fiscal year to the Senate for approval. The president, in a letter conveying his request, which was read…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n