….JUST IN: House of Reps passes ₦28.7trn 2024 appropriation bill
The House of Representatives on Saturday passed the sum of ₦28.777 trillion in expenditure for the 2024 fiscal year, following a report by Rep. Abubakar Bichi, Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas who read the breakdown of the report during plenary gave the National Judicial Council (NJC) the highest allocation of ₦341.626 billion under statutory transfer.
President Bola Tinubu had on November 29, presented ₦27.5 trillion before the joint session of the National Assembly.
The approved sum is ₦1.2 trillion higher than the ₦27.5 trillion presented by the President during the joint session of the National Assembly.
The breakdown of the ₦28.777 trillion approved budget showed that the sum of ₦1.743 trillion is for statutory transfers and ₦8.271 trillion is for debt servicing.
The sum of ₦8.769 trillion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while ₦9.995 trillion is for capital expenditure for the year ending December 31, 2024.
The ₦9.179 trillion fiscal deficit for the year under review is to be financed through asset sales and privatization (₦298,486,421,740); multilateral and bilateral project- ₦7,828,529,477,860.
The total debt service of ₦8.271 trillion was approved for the year 2024, while the sum of ₦5.300 trillion is to be incurred through domestic debts, including ways and means, and ₦2.748 trillion through foreign debts.
Also, the sinking fund for the retirement of maturing promissory notes stands at ₦223.662 billion.
The statutory transfer was followed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), with ₦338.925 billion after the NJC.
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) got the sum of ₦263.044 billion; the North East Development Commission (NEDC) got ₦131.836 billion; and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHPF) got ₦131.522 billion.
The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure got the sum of ₦131.522 billion; the Public Complaint Commission got ₦14.460 billion; and the National Human Rights Commission got ₦5 billion, respectively.
The breakdown of the National Assembly budget showed that the sum of ₦78.624 billion is for the House of Representatives, while ₦49.145 billion is for the Senate.
Also, the sum of ₦36.727 billion is for the NASS Office; ₦30.807 billion for General Services; ₦20.388 billion for Legislative Aides; ₦15.189 billion for Service Wide Vote; and ₦15 billion for the National Assembly Hospital Project.
The sum of ₦12.326 is for the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC); ₦12.123 billion for the National Assembly Library Complex (take-off grant); and ₦10 billion for the ongoing construction of NASC headquarters.
Also, the sum of ₦9.008 billion was approved for the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and ₦4.500 billion for the completion of the ongoing NILDS building.
The sum of ₦4 billion was also approved for the National Assembly Recreation Centre, while ₦4 billion was approved for the design, construction, furnishing, and equipping of the NASS Budget and Research Office.
The sum of ₦3 billion was also approved for the procurement of books for the NASS Library, while ₦3 billion was approved for the Senate Car Park and ₦3 billion for the House of Representatives Car Park.
The sum of ₦3 billion was approved for the upgrade of the NASS key infrastructure, and ₦3 billion was approved for the design, construction, furnishing, and equipping of the NASS ultramodern printing press, among others.
From the total sum of ₦50.451 trillion approved for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, the Ministry of Defense got the highest allocation of ₦1.308 trillion.
This was followed by the Ministry of Police Affairs with ₦869.121 billion, the Ministry of Education with ₦857.134 billion, and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare with ₦667.577 billion.
Also, the Ministry of Interior got ₦362.552 billion, the Ministry of Youth got ₦201.467 billion, and the National Security Adviser (NSA) got ₦199.763 billion.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs got ₦140.456 billion, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security got ₦110.248 billion.
Also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) got ₦100.248 billion, and the Presidency got the sum of ₦97.913 billion.
