Nigeria’s National Assembly says its increment of the 2017 budget figures to 7.44 trillion naira, or 24 billion dollars, is aimed at boosting economic activities, especially in transportation.
Both houses of parliament passed the appropriation bill, including line-by-line details, after increasing the oil benchmark to forty-four-point-five dollars per barrel.
TVC News National Assembly Correspondent Sumner Sambo reports that the National Assembly had been under pressure for delaying the passage of the 2017 budget, five months since its presentation by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2016.
But after a harmonious collaboration between the appropriation committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, the National Assembly has now passed the budget with a substantial increase in budget figures from 7.28 trillion to 7.44 trillion naira.
After plenary and the adoption of votes and proceedings to hasten the transmission of the budget to the executive this week, the federal lawmakers also explained why they have now decided to give a breakdown of the National Assembly’s 125 billion naira 2017 budget.