Buhari presents N11tr 2020 budget

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday presented a budget of N11 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year to the National Assembly. National Daily learned that the President arrived the National Assembly at about 2.00pm for presentation of the 2020 Appropriation proposal to the joint session of the National Assembly.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, in his opening remarks, assured President Buhari of total cooperation between the executive and the legislature.

The Senate President, however, demanded that all heads of MDAs must appear before the various committees for budget defence within the month of October.

Senator Lawan acknowledged the need for Nigeria to return to a January-December budget cycle, promising that the National Assembly would accelerate work on the 2020 Appropriation Bill being presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Lawan re-assured that all budget defence sessions would be concluded in October, adding that other legislative processes would be done on the bill in November, while the lawmakers had planned to pass the budget in December.

President Muhammadu Buhari was accompanied to the National Assembly by members of the Federal Executive Council, leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), APC governors and other aides.

In the budgetary allocations to ministries and agencies, Works and Housing got the largest share, then, transport, UBEC, while Defence was in fourth place of President Buhari’s priorities.

The breakdown reads:

Works and Housing – N262 billion

Transportation – N123 billion

UBEC – N112 billion

Defence – N100 billion

Agriculture – N83 billion

Water Resources – N82 billion

Education – N48 billion

Health – N46 billion

North East Dec Commission – N38 billion

SIPs – N30 billion

FCT – N28 billion

Niger Delta – N24 billion

The 2020 appropriation proposal has budget deficit of N2.8 trillion; indicating revenue expectation of over N8.2 trillion.