2016 Budget Passes Second Reading In House of Reps

The 2016 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday passed the second reading in the House of Representatives in Abuja. The bill, which was extensively debated by the lawmakers, was referred to the Committee on Appropriation and its relevant sub-committees by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara. Leading the debate, Minority Leader of the House, Rep. Leo Ogor, described the budget as incomplete, stressing that the budgets of some government agencies are conspicuously not in the document. Noting that Nigeria was confronted with economic challenges, Ogor said “there is therefore the need to give Nigerians a budget that will stand the test of time.’’ Rep. Samson Okwu (Benue-PDP), said the drop in the budget’s benchmark for crude oil price from $38 per barrel to $28 had negatively affected government’s revenue projections in the budget. Okwu called on government at all levels to diversify into non oil revenue sources. Rep. Osai Osai (Delta-PDP), said the 2016 budget had shortfalls in its capital projections, stressing that all government agencies that have statutory transfer status were not captured, while others that were captured have no such status. Rep. Prestige Osy (Abia-PDP), said the budget lacked immediate plans on ways to diversify government revenue from oil resources. Osy said there was the need for a reduction in domestic borrowing and deficit expenditure in order to be able to manage inflation and increase the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. Rep. Dennis Agbo (Enugu-PDP), argued that it was a contradiction to devalue the naira while encouraging export. “The country’s foreign exchange reserve will continue to shrink due to this,” he said. Agbo urged the Federal Government to remove subsidy on all petroleum products. Rep. Jerry Alagboso (Imo-PDP), said the fund earmarked for road construction in the budget was not enough to tackle the infrastructure decay in all federal roads across the country. Rep Mark Gbillah (Benue-APC), said the House should scrutinise all the items in the budget to ensure that Nigerians got value for their money. The legislator advised President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a budget team with the mandate to properly scrutinise the document before approval. The Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Abdulmumini Jibrin, asked agencies under the Ministry of Finance to step up efforts toward raising money to fund the budget. He also charged committees on effective oversight to ensure that the budget was properly implemented. Buhari had, on December 22, 2015, presented the 2016 budget proposal of N6.08 trillion to the National Assembly. NAN image

About Faith Irabor 1042 Articles
Welcome on board!!! Faith Irabor is just like your everyday girl next door with strong survival instincts. Am an International Journalist, Events planner and Blogger whose media journey dates back to June 2002 as a TV presenter with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Ile-Ife Osun State while I was having my National Diploma in Mass Communication. I left NTA in 2005 to pursue my B.SC in Mass Communication at the Olabisi Onabanjo University OOU Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State and finished in 2008 before joining one of Nigeria's best investigative Tabloids (National Enquirer Magazine & www.enquirermag.blogspot.com). I am very privileged to be trained by one of the industry's bests, my boss and mentor Mr. Tunde Moshood Jr, the former Editor of the defunct Fame Magazine, Publisher of National Enquirer and president Miss Global Nigeria who taught me everything I know in Journalism especially the investigative aspect which is the fulfilment of being a member of the Fourth Estate of Realm (as we journalists are usually officially addressed). My desire to take my journalism practice beyond the Newspaper & Magazine came from the passion I have derived over the years from investigative journalism as Online Media is the best platform to tell a story or news the very minute it’s at your disposal without wasting time. I promise to serve you nothing but exclusive and interesting news, interviews, events, articles from around the world and please feel free to email me on faith.irabor@faithirabor.com on spotted errors as well as ideas that would make me do better as there is no perfect being anywhere except God. Now scroll up, click on any of the stories and please drop your comment!!!!

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