President Muhammadu Buhari will next week Wednesday present a budget of N7.281trillion for the 2017 financial year to a joint session of the National Assembly.
The proposed budget which represents an increase of 20 percent over the 2016 appropriation of N6.06 trillion excludes salary increment which workers have yearned for.
Buhari’s budget which was read on the floor of plenary on Tuesday by Senate President Bukola Saraki, will be presented by 10am.
When presented, the 2017 budget will be eight days earlier than the 2016 budget. Recall that President Buhari presented the 2016 budget on December 22, 2015.
The President also said he would use the budget presentation to lay his administration’s plans to lead Nigeria out of recession.
“I crave the kind indulgence of the National Assembly to grant me the slot of 1000 hours on Wednesday, the 14th of December, 2016 to formally address a joint session of the National Assembly on the 2017 budget proposal and our plans to get the country out of recession,” Buhari stated in his letter read by Saraki.
Last week, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, John Enoh had informed BusinessDay that the upper legislative chamber would approve the 2017 to 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) before the presentation of next year’s budget.
Following the earlier rejection of the document by the Senate, describing it as ’empty’, there are concerns that the upper chamber may not approve the document before the presentation of the budget.
According to the MTEF/FSP, the 2017 budget is predicated on an exchange rate of N290 to US$1, crude oil benchmark price of $42.5 per barrel and oil production benchmark of 2.2million barrels per day.
The Senate had expressed dissatisfaction with all the assumptions proposed in the MTEF and described it as grossly unrealistic.
In the 2016 budget, the crude oil benchmark price was $38 per barrel while production level was 2.2 million barrels per day. The production level however dropped to 1.9 million barrels per day due to the activities of Niger Delta militants.
Also last week, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the 2017 budget proposal for onward submission to the National Assembly for final approval.
Addressing journalists on the outcome of the FEC meeting, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, stated that the approved document would soon be presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari after consultations with the leadership of the Assembly.
“The budget has been approved by the Federal Executive Council, the details off course, will be revealed when the President presents the budget to the National Assembly.
“With regard to the date, the President will be communicating with the National Assembly and off course, it will be at the National Assembly’s discretion ultimately.
“So, the president will write to them and it is after they confirm, then the president can come to address them,” he said.
As of the time of filing this report, the Joint Committee on Finance, National Planning, Local and Foreign Debts and Appropriations chaired by Enoh is meeting with Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, her counterpart in Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma, Director General Budget Office and the Debt Management Office (DMO).
It was gathered that the Senate leadership had given a deadline of submitting the MTEF/FSP report this week so that Red Chamber can approve it to pave way for the President’s presentation next week.
It was also gathered that the budget presentation earlier scheduled for December 1, was shifted to allow the National Assembly enough time to approve a credible MTEF document.
