The Senate and House of Representatives at its plenary session of Thursday, 11 June 2020 passed the 2020 Appropriation Act (Amendment) Bill, and approved the issuance of the sum of ₦10,810,800,872,072 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) as the revised 2020 Budget.
Although the House of Representatives at its plenary session of Wednesday, 10 June 2020, had approved the sum of ₦10,805,544,664,642, this decision was rescinded on the next legislative day, Thursday, 11 June 2020 after it was observed that the application of the percentage of the $3 oil benchmark increase from $25 to $28 per barrel as share of Revenue amounting to ₦5,256,207,430 and payable to some Statutory Agencies was omitted.
The Revenue Projections of the 2020 Appropriation Act (Amendment) Bill was predicated on the following assumptions:
- Benchmark Oil Price of US$28/barrel
- Oil Production of 1.8mbpd
- Exchange Rate of N360/US $1
Presenting the reports of the Joint (Senate and House of Representatives) Committee on Appropriations, the Chairmen, Sen. Jubrin Barau (APC: Kano) and Hon. Muktar Betara (APC: Borno) stated that the budget expenditure of the approved 2020 Budget comprised of:
- Statutory Transfer of ₦428,032,186,792
- Debt Servicing of N2,951,710,000,000
- Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure of N4,942,269,251,934
- Development Fund for Capital Expenditure of N2,488,789,433,344
According to the Chairmen, the approved sum was higher than the figure proposed by the Executive as a result of:
- An additional fund allocated for COVID-19 for the purpose of strengthening the capacities of the 36 States of the Federation;
- An additional fund allocated for Contingencies (Capital and Re-current); and
- An additional fund allocated to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI).
It would be recalled that the Senate and House of Representatives in an Emergency Session held on Thursday, 28 May 2020, had received the request of President Muhammdu Buhari, seeking approval of the sum of N10,509,654,033,053 as the proposed Revised 2020 Budget with the following expenditures and assumptions:
- Statutory Transfers of N398,505,979,362
- Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure of N4,928,525,467,849
- Debt Service of N2,951,710,000,00
- Development Fund for Capital Expenditure of N2,230,912,585,842
- Oil Price Benchmark of $25 per barrel
- Oil Production estimate of 1.93 million barrels per day; and
- Exchange Rate of N360/$
With only about six months left until the end of the year and for budget implementation, another budget cycle is expected to commence soon on the 2021 budget. If the President presents it on time like he did with the 2020 budget (October 2019), the National Assembly could be receiving the proposed 2021 budget in the coming months – before the end of the year.
