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Tag: 2018 BUDGET

  • 2018 budget to be ready by April ending – Dogara

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday assured that the lawmakers would do all within their powers to ensure that the 2018 budget is ready by the end of this month.

    He stated this at Ogbomosho High School during an empowerment programme organised by a lawmaker representing Ogbomoso North/South/Oriire Federal Constituency, Segun Ogunwuyi.

    Dogara, who was represented at the event by the Chairman of the House committee on Education, Hon Zakari Mohammed, said the lateness in the passage of the budget was due to lack of cooperation from ministers and the slow response of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) concerned.

    He said: “For the MDAs we asked them to bring certain things and even the ministers have not been cooperative. We asked them to bring certain things and make certain inputs but they have not and at the end of the day they will be blaming the legislature. The legislature is not to be blamed. When you lay a budget, we are asking for information on it and we cannot manufacture figures. That is the problem. I am sure by the end of April we will definitely have a budget.

    “Our budget performance has been dropping and I think the factor responsible is that when you were supposed to have a quarterly release of funds and you don’t, that is a problem and I think the administration has to work harder and up their game on our projects especially the capital projects.”

     

     

     

  • Saraki names 20 committees sitting on 2018 budget

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Thursday named 20 critical sub-committees of the Senate delaying the passage of the 2018 budget.

    Saraki who spoke on the worrisome development at plenary warned that the committees must not continue to hold the country to ransom by their apparent refusal to submit their budget reports.

    The senate President said that he had no option than to openly name the sub-committees to ensure that the needful was done in the interest of the country.

    He mandated the committees to ensure that their reports were submitted to the Senate Appropriation Committee with failure Friday.

    This revelation is coming more than five months after the 2018 budget was presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    President Buhari had, on submission of the Appropriation Bill on November 7, 2017, sought the leave of the National Assembly to consider and approve the fiscal document by January 2018 to ensure that the budget ran its full course of 12 calendar months.

    The request was not kept as the National Assembly earlier blamed heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for allegedly refusing to appear before sub-committees to defend their budgetary votes.

    The Senate President named Defence, Army, Air Force, Navy, Industry, FCT, States and Local Governments, Culture and Tourism, Petroleum (Downstream) Petroleum (Upstream) Niger Delta, Sustainable Development Goal. and Primary Health Care & Communicable Diseases, as committee that have not submitted their reports.

    Others are Health, Capital Market, Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, FERMA, Works, Power and Cooperation and Integration committees.

    Saraki concluded: “I am sorry to have chosen this method. I have no alternative than to list these committees so that these chairmen can know that they are holding all of us back. The listed committees have not submitted and they must submit unfailingly tomorrow (today).

    “These 20 committees must ensure that their reports are submitted on Friday. We have a deadline which we have committed to. You can’t hold us back. You must submit unfailingly by Friday.”

    The two chambers of the National Assembly scheduled April 24 to pass the 2018 budget.

    Read Also: 2018 budget will be ready in April – Lawmaker

  • Senate faults dwindling budgetary allocations to FCT

    … Capital vote dropped by N79bn in 10 years

    The Senate on Wednesday faulted the dwindling budgetary allocations for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Records showed that FCT budget dropped from N109billion in 2008 to N30billion in the 2017 fiscal year.

    And out of N30billion appropriated for the FCT as capital votes, only N12.19billion was released by the Ministry of Finance in 2017.

    This matter came to fore during the 2018 budget defence session with the Minister of FCT, Alhaji Mohammed Musa Bello, organized by the Senate Committee on FCT.

    Bello told the Committee that out of the N30billion voted for FCT in 2017 as capital budget, only N12.19billion was released.

    He said the figure represented 40.1 per cent budget performance as far as execution of capital projects was concerned.

    However, the minister said the 2018 budgetary allocation for FCT is N40billion.

    He said the N40 billion capital budget was not enough to execute proposed critical infrastructural projects across the territory.

    He said 27 of the projects were prioritised based on projected allocations.

     

  • 2018 Budget: Saraki orders appropriation panel to submit report next week

    The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday ordered the Senate Appropriation Committee to submit its report on the 2018 budget next week.

    He made the call before the upper chamber adjourned plenary in honour of late Senator Mustapha Bukar who died while the Senate was on Easter break.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had on November 7, 2017 presented a 2018 budget of N8.612trillion to the National Assembly.

    The Appropriation Bill has been at committee level in the two chambers since its presentation following allegation that some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) refused to defend their budgetary requests

    Saraki asked the Appropriation Committee to tidy up reports from sub-committees latest by Friday this week for submission to the Senate next week.

    He said: “The Chairman Appropriation should ensure that by Friday this week, collations of reports from various committees should end.

    “There should be no more extension for that purpose because the appropriation committee itself must submit its report to the Senate unfailingly next week.”

     

     

  • Cross River governor signs 2018 budget

    Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, on Tuesday signed the 2018 appropriation bill of N1.3 trillion into law.

    The Cross River House of Assembly had in February 2018 passed the appropriation bill of N1.3trillion presented to the House by Governor Ayade in November last year.

    Speaking after signing the budget into law, the governor said the budget would bring development to people of the state.

    “This is the first trillion budget in the annals of Nigerian history and therefore it is unique and ambitious, intended to decouple the state from the dependence on federation account,” he said.

    He commended the House for the understanding of the budget proposal and the intricacies that led to its passage.

    Presenting the budget earlier, the Speaker of the House, John Gaul-Lebo, said the House interfaced with various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) before the passage of the budget christened “Budget of Kinetic Crystallization.”

     

     

     

     

  • NASS shifts 2018 Budget approval to May

    The National Assembly has postponed the approval of this year’s budget till May 2018.

    This is contrary to expectations that the 2018 budget estimates of N8.612 trillion would be passed by April.

    Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Mustapha Dawaki, made this known at the 2018 National Budget Hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.

    The hearing was jointly organised by the Senate and House Committees on Appropriation.

    Dawaki, explained that if the budget was not passed by April 24 as assured by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, then the N2.06 trillion 2017 capital budget would run till May 31.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had in his presentation of the 2018 appropriation bill to a joint session of the National Assembly on Nov. 7, 2017, called for speedy passage of the budget  to allow for implementation of the January to December budget cycle.

    Both legislative chambers had blamed the delay in the approval of the bill to refusal of heads of ministries, departments and agencies to come forward and  defend their respective budget proposals.(NAN)

  • Oyo Assembly passes 2018 budget

    Oyo Assembly passes 2018 budget

    The Oyo State House of Assembly on Thursday passed the state’s 2018 Appropriation Bill of N271.57 billion.

    This followed the adoption of the reports and recommendations of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Finance and Appropriation, headed by Mrs. Bolanle Agbaje.

    The House presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Michael Adeyemo, unanimously consented to the passage of the bill.

    The House passed the bill after a clause by clause considerations and amendment proposed to the initial N267 billion budget presented by Governor Abiola Ajimobi on December 14, 2017.

    Ajimobi had christened the Appropriation Bill a “Budget of Stabilisation.”

    The House approved N119.631 billion as the total recurrent expenditure and N149. 941 billion as total capital expenditure for the year ending December 31, 2018.

    The speaker commended members of the committee for thorough scrutiny of the budget within a short time-frame.

    He implored the executive arm of government to look into giving a quick assent to the Appropriation Bill.

    NAN

     

  • Senate threatens to pass 2018 budget without MDAs’ inputs

    Senate threatens to pass 2018 budget without MDAs’ inputs

    The Senate on Wednesday threatened to pass the 2018 budget without submissions from recalcitrant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    This threat followed the observation by the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Sunny Ogbuoji.

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had asked Ogbuoji to tell the Senate the position of the 2018 Appropriation Bill whose implementation should have started on January 1.

    Ogbuoji informed the Senate that majority of MDAs refused to turn up for their budget defence as required by law.

    He noted that due to the failure of the MDAs to appear for budget defence, the budget report that could have been presented for consideration was not ready.

    He said: “Majority of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are not coming forward to interface with the standing committees. Some of the ministers will tell you they have a team, they are going outside the country and because of that the MDAs are not fully ready.

    “So we don’t have the reports yet. We believe that when the MDAs come forward, our colleagues will be able to finish their work.

    “Some of the committees are unable to do their work. When the committees screened what they brought, they will ask them to go back to us but they don’t come back.

    ‘That is really delaying the work for majority of the standing committees and that is why up till today, we don’t have a comprehensive report on the budget.”

    Saraki, who expressed disappointment with the attitude of the MDAs, said the Senate was prepared to conclude work on the 2018 Appropriation Bill to ensure its passage.

     

     

  • 2018 budget: LG proposes N1.6b

    2018 budget: LG proposes N1.6b

    The Executive Chairman of Oto Awori LCDA, Prince Asafa Musibau, has presented over 1.6 billion naira to the legislative arm as proposed budget for the year.

    He said the budget would focus more on accomplishing results in education, community development, infrastructure among all other areas that will benefit the people.

    The budget tagged: “Budget of transformation” will witness tremendous aspect which include delivering health care services and improving the lives of the people through agriculture.

    As part of effort to maintain and step-up revenue generation, he reiterated that all loopholes would be covered to generate more than 80 million naira with a difference of over 60 million naira generated in 2017. “We shall sensitize our people so as to gather support in order to generate more revenue; we will embark on activities that will be designed to produce meaningful result,” Musibau said.

    He enjoined all stakeholders to be committed to their duties this year so as to achieve greater results.

    “All hands must be on deck because we are liable to function towards a possibility that will be written in the sands of the time,” he said.

  • FHCs to get N13. 9bn in 2018

    FHCs to get N13. 9bn in 2018

    … N100bn allocated to judiciary in 2018 budget

    Federal High Courts across the country will get N13. 918 billion out of N100 billion budgeted for judiciary in the 2018 fiscal year.

    Also, N1.3 billion of the sum will go to former Chief Justices of Nigeria as retirement benefits.

    This was disclosed on Monday by the Secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Ahmed Gambo Saleh, who led Registrars of the different categories of courts to the budget defence at the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.

    Similarly, the Court of Appeal will get N13. 277, while the Abuja High Courts gets N10.23 billion.

    Others breakdown of the proposed allocation indicated that the National Industrial Court will get N9.322billion; National Judicial Council (N5.701billion),  Customary Court of Appeal (N4.065billion), Sharia Court of Appeal (N2.771billion), Federal Judicial Service Commission (N3.098bn)  and the Body of Benchers (N3bn).

    The NJC Secretary said the budget estimates also included N11.3bn estimated for state judicial officers’ consolidated salaries and overhead costs, in addition to N4.1bn voted for pensions and gratuities of retired federal judicial officers.

    According to him, N581.3 million is earmarked to strengthen the war against corruption in the judiciary and to fund the allowances of anti- corruption committee members.