NASS, not Buhari, to determine final budget amount to be passed – Reps

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has said that the National Assembly will determine the final budget figure to be passed.

He gave the assurance at a media briefing on Friday at the House Media Centre after the formal presentation of the 2023 Federal Government Budget.

This is as he also disclosed that the House will scrutinise the annual appropriation bill presented to a joint sitting of the National Assembly by the Nigerian President.

It would be recalled that earlier Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari  told the National Assembly that his government plans to finance the deficit in the newly-presented N20.51 trillion 2023 Appropriation Act through ‘mainly by new borrowings totalling N8.80 trillion.’

Presenting the document before a joint session of the ninth National Assembly (NASS), earlier Friday, in Abuja, President Buhari said the 2023 Appropriation Act totalled N20.51 trillion with total expenditure estimates comprising N10.78 trillion fiscal deficit representing 4.78 percent of estimated GDP, above the 3 percent.

“As envisaged by the law, we need to exceed this threshold considering the need to continue to tackle the existential security challenges facing the country.

“We plan to finance the deficit mainly by new borrowings totalling N8.80 trillion, N206.18 billion Naira from Privatization Proceeds and N1.77 trillion drawdowns on bilateral/multilateral loans secured for specific development projects/programmes,” said Buhari.

The 2023 budget proposal is N75 billion above the N19.76 trillion approved by the Senate and House of Representatives in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy paper (FSP) which was passed on Wednesday and Thursday by both Chambers respectively.

The breakdown of the 2023 budget parameters and fiscal assumptions, revealed that $70 oil price benchmark; 1.69 million barrels (inclusive of Condensates of 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day) daily oil production; N435.57/$ Exchange rate; 3.75 percent Projected GDP growth rate and 17.16 percent inflation rate.

The proposed N20.51 trillion 2023 expenditure comprises of Statutory Transfers of N744.11 billion; Non-debt Recurrent Costs of N8.27 trillion; Personnel Costs of N4.99 trillion; Pensions, Gratuities and Retirees’ Benefits of N854.8 billion; Overheads of N1.11 trillion; Capital Expenditure of N5.35 trillion, including the capital component of Statutory Transfers; Debt Service of N6.31 trillion; and Sinking Fund of N247.73 billion to retire certain maturing bonds.

According to Buhari, based on these fiscal assumptions and parameters, total federally-collectible revenue is estimated at N16.87 trillion; total federally distributable revenue is estimated at N11.09 trillion in 2023, while total revenue available to fund the 2023 Federal Budget is estimated at N9.73 trillion including the revenues of 63 Government-Owned Enterprises.

“Oil revenue is projected at N1.92 trillion, Non-oil taxes are estimated at N2.43 trillion, FGN Independent revenues are projected to be N2.21 trillion; other revenues total N762 billion, while the retained revenues of the GOEs amount to N2.42 trillion.”

The 2023 Appropriation Bill aims to maintain the focus of MDAs on the revenue side of the budget and greater attention to internal revenue generation. Sustenance of revenue diversification strategy would further increase the non-oil revenue share of total revenues.

However, Kalu who was fielding questions by newsmen on the budget figure differences insisted that the House will make sure the MDAs answer relevant questions on the implementation of the previous and current budget estimates.

The lawmaker further noted that every Committee of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly will conduct its 2023 Budget defense session with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs of government in full glare of the public.

“Many people have expressed surprise about the huge figure of the 2023 budget. We ‘ll make sure  that we ask the relevant questions on the implementation of the 2022 budget.

“We insisted that the projects in the budget must be done according to national development plans. It is the duty of parliament to determine whether it is proper to raise the figure or not”, Kalu said.

On the defense of the budget by these MDAs at the various parliamentary committees, he said that the scrutiny of these estimates of these government ministries and agencies officials will be done professionally in the presence of the media and the attentive and curious Nigerian public.