The National Assembly, last Wednesday, passed the Nigeria 2018 Appropriation Bill six months after it was presented by the executive.
President Muhammadu Buhari had at a joint-session of the National Assembly last November laid a budget proposal of N8,612,236,953,214 (N8.6 trillion) to the lawmakers.
But the red chamber of the National Assembly inflated the budget by N500 billion.
The Senate passed a budget of N9,120,334,988,225 trillion.
Buhari had proposed the sum of two trillion four hundred and twenty eight billion naira (N2.428trn) as the capital budget, while the sum of three trillion four hundred and ninety four billion naira (N3.494trn) was proposed for recurrent expenditure.
The President also proposed the sum of two hundred and twenty billion naira (N220bn) as sinking fund and four hundred and fifty six billion naira (N456bn) as statutory transfers.
However, the lawmakers increased the capital budget to two trillion, eight hundred and sixty-nine billion, six hundred million, three hundred and fifty-one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five naira (N2,869,600,351,825), a differential of over N400bn.
They also passed the sum of three trillion, five hundred and sixteen billion, four hundred and twenty-seven million, nine hundred and two thousand, seventy-seven naira (N3,516,477,902,077) for recurrent expenditure in the 2018 budget. This translates to a differential of N22bn.
The sum of one hundred and ninety billion naira only (N190bn) is earmarked for sinking fund for maturing loans while the statutory transfer has the sum of five hundred and thirty billion, four hundred and twenty-one million three hundred and sixty-eight thousand, six hundred and twenty-four naira (N530,421,368,624).
In the same vein, the lawmakers proposed the sum of two trillion, two hundred and three billion, eight hundred and thirty-four million, three hundred and sixty-five thousand, six hundred and ninety-nine naira (N2,203,835,365,699) for the services of both local and foreign debts.
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