JUST IN: Buhari signs 2023 budget

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, has signed the 2023 N21.83 trillion Appropriation Bill into law.

The National Assembly had on Wednesday passed the 2023 Appropriation Bill to the tune of N21, 827,188,747, 391 as the national budget as the aggregate expenditure for the fiscal year.

The approved budget was hiked by N1.31 trillion which was moved from the initial N20.1 trillion to N21.8 trillion.

Out of the total sum, N967.48 billion was earmarked for Statutory Transfers, N6.55 trillion was for debt servicing; N8.32 trillion was for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the sum of N5.97 trillion was for capital expenditure for the year ending 31st day of December, 2023.

In the passed budget, Benchmark Price of Crude Oil is pegged at $75 USD Per Barrel; Crude Oil Production at 1.69 mbpd; Exchange Rate at N435 57/US$; Gross Domestic Production (GDP) Growth Rate at 3.75percent and Inflation Rate at 17.16% .

The 2023 Appropriation Bill has deferred two weeks ago over what the Senate President described as problems discovered in it.

Some key capital allocations include the N285 billion to the Federal Ministry of Defence, N134.9 billion to the Federal Ministry of Health, N195.5 billion to the Federal Ministry of Power, and N153.7 billion to the Federal Ministry of Education.

The Tertiary Institutions Revitalisation Fund of N300 billion and salary renegotiation of N170 billion have been captured in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, while N10.2 billion has also been provided for the university’s pension, including arrears.