STAR INFORMATION: Comparing Nigeria's 2016 Budget Bill, 2015 Budget Act and 2015 Budget Bill {Re: Budget: Buhari assents to 2015 Supplementary Appropriation Act …extends financial year to March 2016}

[Mobolaji Aluko]

My People:

A Budget Bill indicates the intentions of the Executive;  an Act (a Bill signed into Law) is a compromise between the Executive and the Legislature.

I present below compiled information of those of 2015 and 2016.  Major increases and decreases are discernible therein, and need little comment.

Finally, we welcome the extension of the financial year 2015 to March 2016...that gives us in the MDAs a little more time to spend the 2016 money given to us on Christmas eve, rather than it being mopped up on January 1 as in the previous years!

Season's greetings, everyone..

Bolaji Aluko

Table 1:  Comparisons of 2016 and 2015 Budget Bills and 2015 Budget Act

Unit/Ministry/Head	2016 Total Expenditure (Bill)  - President Buhari	2015 Total Expenditure (Act) - Jonathan Administration	2015 Total Expenditure (Bill) - President Jonathan
Presidency	39,124,978,811	24,473,865,117	26,663,050,469
Office of SGF	62,358,813,315	58,013,699,584	52,782,859,141
Agric	76,753,672,273	40,621,020,717	40,151,988,128
ICPC	4,618,378,795	4,910,936,843	5,051,408,637
Defence	429,098,182,742	375,497,219,431	358,466,078,637
Education	406,556,376,895	415,883,784,654	419,854,986,591
FCT	37,756,697,983	13,500,000,000	12,000,000,000
Foreign Affairs	49,526,208,900	48,149,382,166	47,495,358,240
Finance	11,192,101,558	18,873,401,022	11,100,949,474
Health	76,333,193,241	259,751,742,847	252,543,773,757
Information (& Culture)	45,162,778,886	24,132,420,241	10,092,743,679
Communication Technology	15,997,128,516	11,592,048,380	11,106,611,116
Interior	198,352,766,543	156,220,022,460	156,557,006,561
Office of HCSF	8,042,152,611	7,090,556,728	7,296,828,934
Justice	18,836,291,016	19,944,638,350	20,095,917,474
Power (Housing & Works)	467,645,043,369	9,606,813,831	8,811,633,477
Petroleum Resources	62,115,123,639	59,774,429,975	59,051,178,741
Works	0	44,985,916,543	39,579,312,175
Mines & Steel Development	18,625,703,622	11,031,109,540	10,436,482,841
Transportation/Aviation	215,797,393,980	17,560,812,531	10,856,830,076
Environment	19,678,214,892	17,499,334,341	15,646,485,175
Office of NSA	90,350,068,052	88,726,771,998	84,128,320,723
Niger-Delta	26,332,596,554	10,434,200,737	8,293,205,819
All Other MDAs	705,001,195,996	534,703,640,112	542,518,166,359
SUB-TOTAL Executive MDAs	3,085,255,062,189	2,272,977,768,148	2,210,581,176,224
SUB-TOTAL Executive Bodies	20,501,937,811	19,964,683,643	19,351,311,691
SUB-TOTAL Pensions and Gratuities	200,170,000,000	375,478,494,343	231,408,494,338
SUB-TOTAL Service-Wide Votes (Including  Capital Supplementation)	945,063,000,000	640,127,011,023	541,779,017,746
TOTAL  Expenditure (Non-Debt + Capital)	4,250,990,000,000	3,164,127,957,157	3,003,120,000,000
Statutory Transfers	351,370,000,000	375,616,000,000	411,840,000,000
Debt Service	1,475,320,000,000	953,620,000,000	943,000,000,000
GRAND TOTAL	6,077,680,000,000	4,493,363,957,157	4,357,960,000,000

Budget: Buhari assents to 2015 Supplementary Appropriation Act …extends financial year to March 2016

January 1, 2016

President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the 2015 Supplementary Appropriation Act just as he extended the 2015 financial year to March 31, 2016.

The implication of the extension is that the 2015 budget would be effective till March 31, 2016, after which the implementation of the 2016 budget can begin.

The supplementary appropriation bill of N465.64 billion, which the president submitted to the National Assembly, on November 8 for consideration, was passed by the latter on Tuesday,December 22,  before it embarked on the on-going break.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matter (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, who disclosed this in a terse press statement,Friday, in Abuja, however, did not state the day the president acted on the supplementary appropriation act document.

Enang said he decided to issue the statement in view of several enquiries and calls by legislators,institutions and other relevant bodies.

The statement, tagged: “2015 Appropriation Amendment Act assented to”, read: “Further to several enquiries and calls by legislators, institutions,et al on the subject, we deem it appropriate to issue this release. “His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari,GCFR, President, C-in C- has assented to the 2015 Appropriation Amendment Act passed by the National Assembly.”

It will be recalled that Buhari had submitted the appropriation  bill along with a request to borrow N2.103 trillion for the financial year, 2015. He expected that a deficit arising from the above would be financed by additional borrowing of N1.601trillion through the debt management office.

In a letter to Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, President Muhammadu Buhari had said the supplementary budget would be predicated on oil production of 2.2003 million barrels per day, with benchmark price of $48 per barrel and an exchange rate of N190 to $1.

The breakdown of the supplementary budget shows that N413.36 billion would be for fuel subsidy payment while N10.62 billion was earmarked for the payment of outstanding severance gratuity and allowances of outgone and incoming legislators and legislative aides.

Also, the fight against Boko Haram in the North-East code named “Operation Zaman Lafiya”  has been billed for  N29.96 billion for the third and fourth quarters of 2015.<br />

President Buhari, in the letter, recalled that the 2015 budget was predicated on oil production of 2.2782million barrels per day, benchmark oil price of $53 per barrel and an exchange rate of 190 to $1.

Based on these key assumptions, the following fiscal budget was projected: FGN budget revenue N3.452 trillion, made up of share of oil and minerals revenue- N1.645trillion; share of non oil revenue, N1.215 trillion; FGN Independent revenue, N489.3 billion.

Federal Government’s aggregate expenditure was estimated at N4.485 trillion, comprising statutory transfers,N354.34 billion; debt service, N953.6 billion; recurrent non-debt (personnel costs), N1.828 trillion; recurrent non debt overhead, N791.2 billion; capital expenditure, N536.6 billion.

In the letter, President Buhari noted that “the implementation of the FGN2015 budget has been fraught with significant revenue shortfalls due to continuous decline in oil price, oil production shortfall and non full non oil revenue.

“You may wish to further note that owing to the need to sustain the current progress in addressing the security challenges and other important obligations of government, emergency expenditure items required urgent funding is projected at N465.64 billion

“Given this new level of expenditure and revenue constraint, the 2015 budget, which has a projected fiscal deficit of N1.041 trillion or 1.09 per cent in GDP, with the deficit largely financed by the domestic borrowing of N502.1 billion and foreign borrowing of N380 billion, making a total borrowing amounting to N882.12 billion.”

According to President Buhari, the expected deficit arising from the above is projected at N2.103 trillion or 2.19 per cent of GDP would be financed by additional borrowing of N1.601 trillion through the Debt Management Office. -Vanguard.

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