UPDATED: Buhari presents N20.51t budget, pledges to complete key projects

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday presented the 2023 Appropriation Bill of N20.51 trillion – the highest national budget – to a joint session of the National Assembly.

Tagged “Fiscal Sustainability and Transition” budget, it is the last to be presented by President Buhari who completes his two-term tenure on 29th May, next year.

The President told the joint session of the bicameral National Assembly that the 2023 transition budget was designed to address critical issues and lay a solid foundation for the incoming administration.

Based on these fiscal assumptions and parameters, total federally-collectible revenue is estimated at N16.87 trillion in 2023.

According to the President, total federally distributable revenue is estimated at N11.09 trillion in 2023, while total revenue available to fund the 2023 Federal Budget is estimated at N9.73 trillion.

This, he said, includes the revenues of 63 government-owned enterprises.

The Pesident also disclosed that oil revenue is projected at N1.92 trillion, non-oil taxes are estimated at N2.43 trillion, Federal Government independent revenues are projected to be N2.21 trillion.

President Buhari said the government expects a total fiscal operations to result in a deficit of N10.78 trillion.

This he noted represents 4.78 percent of estimated GDP, above the 3 percent threshold set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

“As envisaged by the law, we need to exceed this threshold considering the need to continue to tackle the existential security challenges facing the country”, President Buhari explained.

He promised that “our focus is on completion of several projects”.

Another major highlight of President Buhari’s presentation is the promise to achieve stable power supply by 2025, noting that the Siemens project would help in this regard.

He said: “We will commission the Second Niger Bridge before leaving office”, he also said.

Presenting the budget, the President said: “As I address this session for the last time, let me highlight the progress made so far. We have made transformation adjustment in infrastructure development.

“We have facilitated the completion of Second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan Express Way and Abuja-Kaduna Kano road. We have used tax credit to facilitate several roads”.

On the protracted industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which started on 14th February, the President said the government noticed with dismay the issues that have paralysed the nation’s universities. He stated that lecturers should appreciate the efforts of the government.

He said that the government has allocated N400.17 billion in the budget to the revitalisation of schools and salary enhancement, and that government alone cannot provided needed funding for tertiary education.

President Buhari admitted: “We have been using loans to finance several projects,” adding that “we have to spend our way out of recessions”, observing that “there is a significant decline in revenue of our country”.

He further said: “We will improve our business environment to ensure ease of doing business in Nigeria”.

According to the President, N9 trillion is expected to fund the budget, comprising oil proceeds and funds from 63 government owned enterprises.

President Buhari stressed that the 2023 Appropriation Bill aims to maintain the focus of Ministries, Departments and Agencies on the revenue side of the budget and greater attention to internal revenue generation.

“Sustenance of revenue diversification strategy would further increase the non-oil revenue share of total revenues”, President Buhari said.

Speaking further, the President revealed that the government plans to finance the deficit mainly by new borrowings totalling N8.80 trillion, N206.18 billion from Privatization Proceeds and N1.77 trillion drawdowns on bilateral and multilateral loans secured for specific development projects and programmes.