Following the resolutions of the leadership of the National Assembly to scrutinise the 2017 Budget, Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government (MDAs) will today begin to defend their estimates before various Standing Committees of the National Assembly.
It will be noted that both chambers on Thursday, January 26, 2017, suspended plenary sittings for the next three weeks in order for committees to scrutinise the 2017 Appropriation Bill during which concerned MDAs will appear before them to defend their budget figures.
Ministry of Education and some agencies under it will face the Senate Committee on Education today for the exercise slated for noon at Room 107 of the Senate’s new wing, while other standing committees of the Senate and House of Representatives would follow.
Reports have it that a meeting of the Senate leadership with chairmen of the standing committees will hold today in order to fast-track the budget defence exercise as well as make it scandal-free.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday, December 14,2016 presented the Appropriation Bill tagged, “Budget of Recovery and Growth” to a joint session of the National Assembly.
Of the N7.298 trillion budget size for 2017, statutory transfers will gulp N419.02 billion; debt service – N1.66 trillion; Sinking Fund to retire certain maturing bonds – N177.46 billion; non-debt recurrent expenditure – N2.98 trillion; and capital expenditure, N2.24 trillion (including capital in Statutory Transfers).
Buhari particularly noted that under the Statutory Transfers, budgetary allocation to the Judiciary had been increased from N70 billion in 2016 to N100 billion, explaining that the increase was to “enhance the independence” of the judiciary and enable them to perform their functions effectively.
A large chunk of recurrent expenditure will be for the payment of salaries and overheads in institutions that provide critical public services.
The budgeted amounts for these items are: N482.37 billion for the Ministry of Interior; N398.01 billion for Ministry of Education; N325.87 billion for Ministry of Defence, and N252.87 billion for Ministry of Health.