The Senate, Tuesday, passed the sum of N4.493 trillion budget for the 2015 fiscal year, but with an increment of N51 billion above the estimate of N4.425 trillion submitted to the National Assembly by the Federal Government for approval.

This came as the Senate President, David Mark, tasked the executive to be prudent in the management of the nation’s resources.
The passage followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committees on Appropriations and Finance on the 2015 Appropriation Bill, tabled before the Red Chamber by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Ahmed Maccido, APC, Sokoto North, during its plenary.

But Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Ahmad Lawan, APC, Yobe North, hinted that in spite of the passage, the National Assembly was still expecting the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to send a supplementary budget to the 8th Assembly, when he assumes power from May 29, 2015.

Lawan faulted the budget passed, saying there was no balance between capital allocation and recurrent expenditure proposed just as he said the budget was not implementable without supplementary from the incoming government to be headed by General Muhammadu Buhari.

But in his remark, after the passage, Senate President, David Mark, asked executive to be prudent in the management of resources in the country.

In the budget passed, there was no provision for fuel and kerosene subsidies in 2015 even as it increased the oil benchmark to $53 per barrel against the $52 per barrel, proposed by the executive. But it retained the crude oil production of 2.2782 million barrel per day just as it retained exchange rate of N190 to a United States dollar with also a deficit gross domestic product (GDP) of -1.12 per cent..

But it also reduced the N2,607,601,000,300 proposed by the executive to N2.607, 132,491,708 as recurrent expenditure and simultaneously scaled down the capital expenditure from N642,848,999,699 estimated in the proposal to N556,995,465,449.

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