The Senate has commenced debate on the general principles of the 2020 Appropriation Bill. The Bill among others seeks to authorize the sum of N10,330,416, 607, 347 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the National Budget.
Leading the debate on the Bill at the plenary session of Wednesday, 9 October 2019, Sen. Abdullahi Yahaya (APC; Kebbi) informed lawmakers that the 2020 Budget was predicated on an Oil Benchmark of $57 per barrel; Oil Production estimate of 2.18million barrels per day; Exchange rate of 305 naira per dollar; and GDP growth of 2.93%. According to him, the economic parameters were subject to the actual economic viability of the country. Sen. Yahaya further noted that the 9th Senate should be focused on ensuring that funds allocated to MDAs allow for the restructuring of National Security Institutions, investment in agriculture, education, health, poverty alleviation, ICT and other social investment initiatives.
Following the lead debate, many lawmakers spoke in support of the Bill while also calling for an increase in the budgetary allocations to the Health, Education and Agricultural sectors before the Senate adjourned further deliberations on the Budget to Thursday, 10 October 2019. It would be recalled that President Muhammdu Buhari had in a Joint Session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, 9 October 2019 presented the 2020 Budget.
