By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The Senate and the House of Representatives approved the sum of N4 trillion for petrol subsidy in the 2022 supplementary budget.
The approval followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s request to the National Assembly, to approve a “Bill for an Act to amend the Appropriation Act, 2022 in order to provide for Premium Motor Spirit Subsidy and make Adjustments on the Schedule; and for Related Matters.

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The House also approved N182 billion Increment to Police Salary, N7. 35 trillion deficit as well as okayed US$73 per barrel oil benchmark.

These followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance on the request by the President for revision of the 2022 Fiscal Framework and passage of a bill for an Act to amend the Appropriation Act, 2022.

Buhari in a letter requested the review of the 2022 MTEF to make some adjustments to accommodate present realities such as oil production and price as well as suspension of the removal fuel subsidy.
Going by this, the House approved an increase in the oil benchmark to $73 per barrel and a daily oil production volume of 1.6 million barrels per day.
Other approvals included a cut in the provision for federally-funded upstream projects being implemented by N200 billion from N352.80 billion; increase in the projection for Federal Government independent revenue by N400 billion. 
Also approved was domestic debt service provision of N76.13 billion, and net reductions in Statutory Transfers by N66.07 billion, as follows:

“Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), by N13.46 billion from N102.78 billion to N89.32 billion; North East Development Commission (NEDC), by N6.30 billion from N48.08 billion to N41.78 billion; and Universal Basic Education (UBEC), by N23.16 billion from N112.29 billion to N89.13billion.
“Basic Health Care Fund, by N11.58 billion from N56.14 billion to N44.56 billion; and that NASENI, by N11.58 billion from N56.14 billion to N44.56 billion.”
The President had also requested for an increase in the estimated provision for petrol subsidy for 2022 by N3.557 trillion, from N442.72 billion to N4.00 trillion.

Briefing House of Representatives correspondents on the passed revised budget, Chairman House Committee on Appropriation Hon Mukhtar Betara expressed satisfaction with the passage by House, saying it would help the President to achieve his policy.

He said people should take it easy with the criticism of the military over its heavy budgets, stressing that the large chunk of military budgets often went for recurrent and salaries of personnel, with meagre capital and overhead allocations.

Betara said with the present approved increment for the police, its budget would also become huge in recurrent and salaries.

Senate approves Buhari’s revised 2022 fiscal framework 
The Senate also approved  President Buhari’s request for adjustments to the 2022 Fiscal Framework. The approval followed the consideration of a report by the Senate Committee on Finance. The report was laid and presented  by the Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Olamilekan Adeola(APC Lagos).

Senate accordingly approved the $73 dollars per barrel proposed by President Muhammadu  Buhari, including approving oil production volume of 1.600 million per day, a Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidy of N4trilion; and a cut in the provision for Federally funded upstream projects being implemented by N200 billion from N352.80.

While approving an increase in the Federal Government Independent Revenue of N400 billion,  Senate  gave its approval  for an additional provision of N182.4 billion to cater to the needs of the Nigeria Police Force. It approved debt service provision of N76.13 billion, and net reductions in Statutory Transfers by N66.07 billion. A breakdown of the net reductions are as follows: NDDC, by N13.46 billion from N102.78 billion to N89.32 billion; NEDC, by N6.30 billion from N48.08 billion to N41.78 billion; and UBEC, by N23.16 billion from N112.29 billion to N89.13 billion. 

Others are Basic Health Care Fund, by N11.58 billion from N56.14 billion to N44.56 billion; and NASENI, by N11.58 billion from N56.14 billion to N44.56 billion. The chamber also approved a fiscal deficit of N7.35 trillion.

In his presentation, Adeola said that the total budget deficit was projected to increase by N965.42 billion to N7.35 trillion, representing 3.99 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to him, the incremental deficit would be financed by new borrowings from the domestic market.

Lawmakers, who made contributions on the report for the review of the 2022 fiscal framework, attributed the Nigeria’s economic downturn to crude oil theft. Sen. Olubunmi Adetunmbi (APC- Ekiti ), said the federal government and security agencies owed it a duty to stop the stealing of our common wealth. He decried that at a time when most countries of the world were reaping hugely from the increase in crude oil prices caused by the Russia-Ukrainian crisis, Nigeria was left out for its inability to meet its OPEC quota. 

The Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, said the country should be in a state of mourning over its  current experience, attributing the failure of security agencies to protect oil assets as a major reason for the decline of the economy. He expressed concern over rising cases of oil theft despite huge resources allocated to the military, police and other security agencies. 

Other Senators, like  Gabriel Suswam (PDP Benue ), Betty Apiafi (PDP Rivers), urged the Senate not to hastily approve the President’s request to adjust the 2022 fiscal framework until certain questions were answered. 

While Suswam raised concerns on the widening gap in budget deficit and the federal government’s decision to resort to funding from the Capital Market, Apiafi, demanded answers from the NNPC and relevant agencies on solutions to curb crude oil theft. The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his concluding remarks, called on the Federal Government to take “radical” steps towards stopping the theft of crude oil by economic saboteurs.

Senate passes N17.3trn Revised 2022 Budget
The Senate similarly passed the revised 2022 N17.3trillion budget. Its action followed the adoption of the report of Senate Committee on Appropriation at Thursday’s plenary.

Presenting the report, Senator Barau Jibrin, the Chairman of the committee said that the budget was made up of N7 trillion recurrent expenditure and N5 trillion capital expenditure, while N817 billion was for statutory transfers.

Jibrin said that N3 trillion of the budget was for debt service. “Also, the Senate approved the total sum of N3.55 trillion for PMS subsidy in 2022, forwarded in two separate requests by the President to the National Assembly for approval,” he said.