Senate to pass 2017 Budget on Thursday

After receiving reports of the Joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance on the 2017 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday, the senate has fixed Thursday for the passage.

The report was laid at plenary by the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Appropriation, Sen. Danjuma Goje.

While making his remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki, commended the committee for excellent job promising that he would ensure its passage of the bill on Thursday.

“On behalf of our colleagues, let me congratulate the committee. This is history been made, because this is the first time report of the Appropriation Bill will be laid with details.

“Because of that, by tomorrow (Wednesday) you will get hard copies of the report, but the soft copy will be ready today.

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“We would distribute them and ensure we pass the bill on Thursday,’’ he said.

The 2017 Budget proposal report was laid four days after the expiration of the 2016 fiscal year. President Muhammadu Buhari had presented a budget proposal of N7.30 trillion for the 2017 fiscal year before a Joint Session of the National Assembly on Dec. 14, 2016.

Details of the proposal presented by President Buhari indicated that the sum of N2.24 trillion, representing 30.7 per cent, will be committed to capital expenditure, while N2.98 trillion will go to recurrent spending.

National Daily also gathered that  the oil benchmark price was set at 42.5 dollar per barrel and a production estimate of 2.2 million barrels per day.