BREAKING: Senate Passes 2019 Budget, Inflates It By N86bn

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday passed the 2019 budget after inflating it by N86 billion.

The Senate passed N8.916 trillion as the budget for the 2019 fiscal year against the N8.83 trillion transmitted to it by the Executive arm.

The passage followed the presentation of a report on the budget by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Danjuma Goje.

Among resolutions the Senate reached before the budget was passed was the approval of N10billion in addition to the total figure of the budget to assist victims of Zamfara State crises, as well as provide severance allowance for federal legislators and their aides which were not captured in the initial budget estimate.

A breakdown of the budget estimate reveals that statutory transfer is N502.58 billion, N2.25 trillion is for debt servicing, recurrent expenditure gets N4.65 trillion, and N2.94 trillion is earmarked for capital expenditure.

Speaking after the budget was passed, Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, commended his colleagues for their efforts.

Saraki also appealed for the complete implementation of the budget by the Executive arm.

“I want to thank our colleagues, particularly for their understanding and for us to be able to meet today’s deadline in passing the bill and (I) thank the Committee on Appropriation too.

“I hope that with this budget passed, the Executive will also ensure the full implementation of the budget for the benefit of Nigerians as a whole,” said the Senate President.