The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the 2020 Appropriation Bill of more than ₦10.59 trillion against the initial amount of ₦10.33 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The house passed the bill after considering the report of the Committee on Appropriations presented by the Chairman, Rep. Muktar Betara (APC-Borno) during the Committee of Supply.
The ₦10.33 trillion budget was presented on October 8 by Mr Buhari before a joint session of the National Assembly with both chambers of the assembly assuring Nigerians of passage before the end of the year.
The report, however, reflected the total sum of N10,594,362,364,830, indicating an increase of about ₦260 billion.
Presenting the report, Mr Betara said “that the house do consider the Report of the Committee on Appropriations on a Bill for an Act to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of ₦10,594,362,364,830.
“Of which ₦560,470,82,235 is for Statutory Transfers; ₦2,725,498,930,000 is for Debt Service; ₦4,842,974,600,640 is for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure; while the sum of ₦2,465,418,006,955 is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on Dec. 31, 2020.”
The initial amount allocated to Statutory Transfers was ₦556.7 billion reflecting an increase of about ₦3.77 billion, while the initial allocation to Debt Service was ₦2.45 trillion, reflecting an increase of about ₦28 billion.
The Recurrent (non-debt) Expenditure was initially put at ₦4.88 trillion and reflected a decrease of about ₦4 million.
The house would transmit the Appropriation Bill to the president for assent.