By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate yesterday passed for second reading for the N20.51trn 2023 budget presented to the National Assembly on Friday last week by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The approval of the appropriation bill at the upper chamber followed a robust debate on its general principles by senators.
Most federal lawmakers, however, frowned at the rising recurrent expenditure component national budget on yearly basis.
One of the lawmakers, Senator Ali Ndume (APC Borno South), urged his colleagues to thoroughly investigate the rising recurrent expenditure despite the embargo placed on employment by the federal government and hundreds of retirees recorded on yearly basis.
He noted with concern the N8.2trn earmarked for recurrent expenditure in the proposed N20.51trn 2023 budget, which he said, constituted 43 per cent of the entire budget profile.
Ndume said, “Mr President, our relevant committees, should thoroughly scrutinize proposals made in the N20.51trn 2023 budget by the executive, particularly the recurrent expenditure component which has been rising on yearly basis.
“Statistically, in the 2018 budget recurrent expenditure vote was N3.5trn, in 2019 it increased to N4.7trn, rose again in 2020 to N4.8trn, in 2021 N5.9trn, 2022 N6.9trn and astronomically projected as N8.2trn for the 2023 fiscal year.
“The yearly increases are even happening in the face of the embargo placed on employment in all the federal ministries, departments, and agencies apart from the hundreds of civil servants retiring on yearly basis as well.
“The Senate and by extension, the National Assembly, need to critically look into it this time around, more so, with attendant increase in the votes of debt servicing which is projected to be N6.31trn for the 2023 fiscal year and far higher than the capital vote of N5.35trn.
“Mr President and very distinguished colleagues, we must thoroughly look into budgetary proposals made by the executive to prevent a situation of borrowing money for payment of workers’ salaries,” he said.
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Other Senators who made contributions like Tolu Odebiyi (APC Ogun West), Jibril Isah (APC Kogi East), Betty Apiafi (PDP Rivers West), etc, frowned at the rising votes of recurrent expenditure.
Apiafi added in her contribution that the issue of oil theft should be looked into very critically as well as other areas of revenue leakages.
She said, “In August this year, from 1.82m barrels oil production expected from Nigeria per day, the country was only able to produce 972m barrels per day, losing 859m barrels per day to oil thieves.
“The loss in the stated month, translated into $59m per day and N9.5trn per annum. This dangerous revenue loss must be stopped in the general interest of all,” she said.
Earlier in his lead debate, the Senate Leader, Ibrahim Gobir (APC Sokoto East) said the proposed N8.2trn, contained personnel costs, pensions, benefits, and overheads are expenses that are necessary for stabilising the government and the polity.
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*Passes N20.51trn budget for Second Reading
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan in his remarks after the passage of the budget for second reading, bemoaned the huge loss of revenue due to high-scale oil theft and called for appropriate sanctions against the perpetrators.
Lawan charged the committees of the Senate to, in the course of the budget defence, ensure critical scrutiny of the submissions and trace any leakage or wastages contained in them.
He further called on them to give more priority to the completion of ongoing projects rather than initiating new ones to avoid incidents of abandoned projects, particularly now that the present administration is on its last lap.
The Senate, thereafter, adjourned the plenary to the 15th of November for consideration of the budget proposals at the committee level.
