Senate passes N10.801 trillion revised 2020 Budget

The Senate, on Thursday, passed the N10.801 trillion revised 2020 budget proposal forwarded to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.

This is an increase from the N10.509 trillion submitted by the Executive.

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The National Assembly had, in December 2019, passed N10.594 trillion 2020 budget and was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

But the budget was reviewed due to the fall of oil price and the projected government revenue following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The House of Representatives had passed the budget on Wednesday.

The Senate passed it after considering the report of the Committee on Appropriations presented by Barau Jibrin.

Out of the amount, N422.775 billion is for Statutory Transfers, N2.951 trillion is for Debt Service, N4.938 trillion is for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure while the sum of N2.488 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure the year ending 31 December, 2020.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks, urged the committees to step up their oversight function to ensure that funds are spent judiciously.