The two chambers of the Nigerian national assembly — the Senate and the House of representatives — Wednesday passed the 2011 national budget of 4,971.8 trillion naira (150 naira = US$ 1). Based on a benchmark oil price of US$ 75 a barrel, the production of 2.3 million barrels of oil per day, the exchange rate of 150 naira to the dollar and a 7 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, the budget is made up of N2,467,168,724,129 in recurrent expenditure, N1,562,999,158,775 capital expenditure, N496,617,087,670 in statutory transfers and N445,096,682,115 for debt servicing. Joint Venture production stood at US$ 5.4 billion. A break down of the budget shows that Defence, comprising the ministry of defence, army, air force and navy got the highest figure of N311,692,345,592, while education was allocated N306,320,538,797. The Police formation and commands received N296,569,995,125.
The National Assembly, National Judicial Council and the Universal Basic Education, placed on first line charge, got N232.7 billion; N95 billion and N62.3 billion respectively while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), preparing for next month’s general elections, got N52.1 billion.
The budget figure represents a reduction from the total approved spending of 5.159 trillion naira in 2010 but an increase on the 4.226 trillion naira budget proposal originally submitted to parliament by President Goodluck Jonathan in December.
Speaking after the budget was passed by the senate, the chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Senator Iyiola Omisere said that the projections were made after due consultations with the ministry of finance.
He said the policy thrust of the 2011 budget was premised on government’s determination to establish and strengthen ‘the sound microeconomic environment that Nigeria needs to ensure the prosperity of our citizens’’.
This, according to him, will attract investment, facilitate private sector growth, boost employment generation and ensure wealth creation and other socio-economic development goals under the vision 2020.
Speaking on the oil benchmark of US$ 75 per barrel, Omisore said there was no cause to fear because the country could rely on the sovereign wealth fund which would warehouse the excess crude fund.
Also speaking, the Senate President, David Mark, remarked that the National Assembly would embark on aggressive oversight functions to ensure faithful implementation of the budget.
The Senate also passed the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill with a warning to all stakeholders, including the media to be ready to disclose their sources of information ‘because the media have always said they will not disclose their sources of information’’.