The Senate on Wednesday passed the appropriation bill for the 2023 fiscal year.
The budget, which will be the last to be considered by the ninth Assembly, was raised from N20.5 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari in October, to N21.8 trillion indicating an increase of over N1.3 trillion.
To reflect the current market values of the oil barrel in the international market, the lawmakers increased the Oil Benchmark Price from $70 to $75
Nigeria’s daily oil production rate was pegged at 1.69 million per barrel and the exchange rate at N435 per dollar.
The passage of the budget came after the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriation – presented by the chairman, Barau Jibrin.
In his presentation, the lawmaker recommended that N967.4 billion (967,486,010,536) be approved for Statutory Transfers – a category into which the National Assembly budget falls.
A breakdown analysis of the budget as passed by the Senate indicated that Statutory transfer stood at N967,486,010,536 while debt servicing will gulp
N6,557,597,611,797.
Recurrent (non-debt) expenditure stood at N8,329,370,195,637 while N5,972,734,929,421 was set aside for Capital expenditure .
Jibrin also explained that the committee observed the need for stimulation of the economy through increased capital expenditure, which will make for infrastructural development.
The Senate, thereafter, dissolved into the Committee of Supply, which considered and passed the budget.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, commended his colleagues for restoring the budget cycle to January to December, noting that the 2023 budget is the fourth and final budget to be passed by the ninth Senate.
He urged the executive to ensure the total implementation of the 2022 supplementary budget.
He also commended the National Assembly for passing previous finance bills which always guide the budget