As public concerns about the President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s likely default in complying with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act on the mandatory time of presenting yearly budgets to National Assembly started mounting at the weekend, the government on Monday allayed fears by proposing a N26 trillion budget for the 2024 fiscal year.
The proposed Appropriation Bill figure was announced by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, told State House Correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held on Monday, at the presidential villa, in Abuja.
He assured the public that the draft Appropriation Bill would be submitted to the National Assembly before December 31 for consideration.
The minister disclosed: “The aggregate expenditure is estimated at N26.01tn for the 2024 budget, which includes statutory transfers of N1.3tn non-debt recurrent expenditure of N10.26tn. Debt service estimated at N8.25tn as well as N7.78tn being provided for personnel pension cost.”
Bagudu further clarified that the increased proposal for debt servicing was “because N22.7tn Ways and Means was securitised, meaning it became a federal government debt at nine per cent”, thereby translating to N2.1 trillion on debt servicing
Similarly, the minister pointed out that personnel costs in the proposed budget significantly increased due to transfers from the agreement between the government and the organised babour.
Bagudu also hinted that the government would present a supplementary budget given its increasing funding obligations since the removal of petroleum subsidy.
He said: “Yes, there would be a supplementary budget because there are continuing obligations and there are responses to security which can be immediate.”
The minister assured that the perceived delay in forwarding the Appropriation Bill 2024 to the National Assembly would not change the January – December implementation cycle as the President had been engaging in discussions with the National Assembly on the bill.
Bagudu further expatiated: “Mr. President is mindful of those and is assessing them. But he is also committed to the budget process and its integrity. He wants to ensure that monies that are appropriated will be spent in the period for which they are appropriated.
“And then in terms of presentation of the budget, Mr. President has been engaging with the National Assembly leadership, even ahead of the presentation to say ‘these are our assumptions, these are our thought processes,’ so that it can reduce the lead time for which the budget has to go through such considerations.
“We believe that this budget will be presented in good time, particularly the 2024 budget to be passed and signed before December 31, 2023,” the minister added.
