Senate passes 2014 budget, raises estimates to N4.695tn

Senate President, David Mark

The Senate  has   raised  the 2014 budget  from  the N4.642tn  submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly on December 19, 2013  to  N4.695 tn.

The upper chamber of the National Assembly, at its plenary on Wednesday,  settled for the sum after a  clause by clause consideration of the document   which lasted about one-and-half hours.

Highlights of the   budget   are Statutory transfers, N408,687,801,891; debt  servicing,  N712,000,000,000 ; recurrent expenditure, N2,454,887,566,702;  capital expenditure,  N1,119,614,631,407;  and  aggregate expenditure,  N4,695,190,000,000.

After the approval, the Senate President, David Mark, commended his colleagues for working expediciously on the document especially at their various committee levels.

He therefore appealed to the Executive   to ensure efficient and effective implementation of the budget.

The Senate had earlier debated the general principles of the bill and read it the second time on January 23, 2014 before referring it to the Committees on Appropriations and Finance for further legislative action.

The N4.642tn budget  proposed by the Executive   included N399,687,801,891 as   statutory transfers;  N712,000,000,000  for  debt servicing;  N2,430,665,361,597  as recurrent, non-debt expenditure;  and  N1,100,606,836,512  for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure.

The committee subsequently referred the schedules of the bill to the appropriate standing committees on money bills in line with Order 92(4) (a) of the Senate Standing Order.

The committee drew up a work plan which gave the standing committees a time line within which to submit their reports.

This was extended to the end of March 2014 to enable them to conclude engagement with ministries, departments and agencies before reporting back.

A total of 51 committees submitted reports and defended same before the Committee of the Whole House.

There is also a Subsidy Reinvestment Programme component of the budget to the tune of N268,370,000,000 for  this year. The sum did   not form part of the aggregate budget figure of N4.642tn but it was however captured in the final compilation of the bill.

Presenting his lead debate on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Senator Ahmad Maccido, explained that in preparing the details of the bill, they   adopted a benchmark price of $77.50 per barrel of crude oil, a crude oil production of 2.38m barrels per day and an exchange rate of N160 to $1.

Maccido said the committee observed that the 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, upon which the 2014 budget was based would require being refined and retooled both in procedure and process.

He noted that a major issue was in the planning required and the engagement processes with all stakeholders which would have added effective value to the budget process, with obvious multiplier effects on the economy.

The committee chairman also said that the drop in oil production volume as reflected in the budget estimates of the past two years remained disturbing.

He said the   reason was traced to the obstruction of oil production by pipeline vandals and crude oil theft.

He noted that poor budget implementation in the country remained a recurring decimal for the economy.

For instance, Maccido said  the unspent funds that were being rolled over into the economy only made  a mockery of development.

Source PUNCH.