Ebun Francis || President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday presented the 2018 appropriation bill to the joint session of the National Assembly presided over by Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.
Accompanied by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and other government officials, President Buhari said the proposed 2018 bill will consolidate on the gains of the 2017 budget to make the 2018 a year of better outcomes for the country’s economy.
The budget is 16 per cent higher than that of 2017.
The 2018 budget is based on crude oil benchmark of US$45 per barrel with estimated daily production of 2.3 million barrels.
The President also said that the budget was based on exchange rate of N305 to one dollar.
The budget expenditure is made up of N2.41 trillion for capital and N3.49 trillion for recurrent.
President Buhari whose speech drew applause from lawmakers described the budget as that of “consolidation’’ and gave the hope that 2018 would be a better one.
The budget, he said, was prepared and dedicated to the country’s economic recovery and growth.
He appealed to the militants in the oil rich Niger Delta not to revert to violence or engage in destruction of oil and gas facilities and advised that dialogue was the key in ensuring peace and development.
“We must come together to address our grievances. Threat and violence is not the way out,’’ he said.
Buhari also appealed to members of the National Assembly to threat with budget estimate with all seriousness so that the country could revert to its January to December fiscal year.
He revealed he had directed that the military and other agencies should be enrolled in the Integrated Payroll of Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for the purpose of paying their salaries centrally to eliminate ghost workers.
With agency report