The Nigerian Senate has on Thursday passed the sum of N10.805 trillion Naira as the revised budget for the 2020 fiscal year.
Reports say that the passage followed consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, on the Appropriation Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
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It was gathered that out of the sum of N10,805,544,664,642 to be issued from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, N422,775,979,362 is for Statutory transfers; N2,951,710,000,000 is for Debt Service; N4,942,269,251,934 is for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure; and N2,488,789,433,344 is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure.
Ahmad Lawan, President of the Senate, speaking after the budget was passed, charged Senate Committees to ensure strict oversight of projects contained in the revised 2020 budget.
According to him, getting value for money is one way of ensuring that Nigerians are impacted positively through government interventions and Programmes.
The Senate President stated:
For us, this is one way of ensuring that Nigerians feel the presence of government through the various interventions, the programmes and projects.
We have done this, but we have other things waiting for us in relation to this. We are supposed to ensure that we oversight on these projects, and more especially when we have to borrow money to fund some of these projects, it is very crucial that we ensure there is value for money.
Every project that is mentioned here should be implemented appropriately and accordingly. So, all our standing Committees should ensure that we continue to carry out our oversight.
The passage of the amended budget comes on the heels of a statement by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC), Mele Kyari, who expressed hope that the price of oil would by the second quarter of 2020.
Recall that the country’s budget for the year was affected by the crash in prices of crude oil; a commodity that Nigeria majorly relies on for revenue.
