The Senate and House of Representatives opened debate on the 2017 budget in Abuja on Tuesday with little or no opposition.
The N7.29tn budget came with a deficit of N2.36tn on December 14, 2016 when President Muhammadu Buhari presented the estimates to the National Assembly.
There is also a built in plan to borrow N2.32tn to finance the deficit.
The 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper upon which the budget was based, also proposed a daily crude oil production output of 2.2 million barrels.
It had a benchmark price of $42.5, which was later raised to $44.5 by the legislature.
But, Tuesday, the first day allotted for debate, was devoid of the usual fireworks associated with budget debates at both the Senate and the House.
Both chambers of the National Assembly had last week passed the 2017-2019 METF/FSP on which the budgets of the three years will be based.
The passage of the MTEF/FSP, according to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, must precede the consideration of the appropriation bill.
A statement by the Media Office of the President of the Senate quoted the Notice Paper for this week issued by the Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Baba Kaka Garbai, as stating that “all three days of plenary would be dedicated to debates on the 2017 budget.”
At the opening of the debate at the plenary on Tuesday, the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, noted that the aggregate revenue available to fund the budget was N4.94tn, which was 28 per cent higher than the 2016 projection.
He said, “The 2017 budget of N7.3tn, with a revenue projection of N4.94tn, will result to a deficit of N2.36tn. The deficit, which is equivalent of 2.18 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product, will be financed mainly by borrowing, which is projected to be about N2.32tn. The intention is to source about N1.067tn from external sources, while the balance of N1.254tn will be sourced from the domestic market.
“With the 2017 ‘budget of recovery and growth,’ the future of this country looks very bright as the year to year growth in capital expenditure demonstrates this administration’s desire to make this country more competitive in order to bring the economy out of recession and into steady growth and prosperity for all.”
The President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, who presided over the plenary, said the debate would continue today (Wednesday), stating that 30 lawmakers would participate in the next round of the exercise.
At the House, members of the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, made little effort to criticise the budget.
The majority All Progressives Congress lawmakers and their PDP colleagues expressed hope that the budget was implementable.
