President Buhari signs 2023 appropriation bill of N21.83 trillion
By Felicia Nwosu
In preparation for a holistic fiscal planning for the year, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the 2023 appropriation bill of N21.83 trillion. Buhari signed the 2023 transition budget at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Present at the signing were Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President, Ahmed Lawan, Senate President, Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives and many top members of the Federal Executive Council.
A breakdown of the newly signed budget indicated that a total of N967.5 billion was allocated for statutory transfers, N6.6 trillion for debt servicing, N8.3 trillion for recurrent expenditure, and N5.9 trillion for capital expenditure.
The 2023 budget of N21.83 trillion maintained the recurrent expenditure at approximately N8.27 trillion, while capital expenditure increased from N5.35 trillion to N5.9 trillion and debt servicing increased from N6.31 trillion to N6.6 trillion.
Some key capital allocations include the N285 billion to the Federal Ministry of Defence, N134.9 billion to the Federal Ministry of Health, N195.5 billion to the Federal Ministry of Power, and N153.7 billion to the Federal Ministry of Education.
The Tertiary Institutions Revitalisation Fund of N300 billion and salary renegotiation of N170 billion have been captured in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, while N10.2 billion has also been provided for the university’s pension, including
President Buhari explained that the 2023 Budget provides for aggregate expenditures of N21.83 trillion, an increase of N1.32 trillion over the initial Executive Proposal.
The President noted that he signed the appropriation bill into law to enable implementation to commence without delay, and at the same time, he directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, to liaise with the National Assembly to effect the necessary amendment to the bill.
The Senate president while speaking with newsmen earlier had said his discussions with the president centred on the 2023 appropriation bill and the recent additional loan request. He expressed regret that the 2023 budget signing is happening a bit later than that of 2022 which was signed on December 31, 2021.
According to Lawan, the January to December budget cycle adopted and maintained by the 9th Assembly, the delay of one week was due to anomalies discovered by the legislature in the budgetary documents submitted by the executives.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.