The 2024 fiscal year expenditure of N28.777 trillion was approved by the National Assembly on Saturday.
This amount is N1.2 trillion higher than the initial N27.504 trillion proposed by President Bola Tinubu during the joint session of the National Assembly on November 29, 2023. Following the approval, the House held an executive session that lasted for 50 minutes. Upon resuming plenary, Hon. Abubakar Bichi, the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, led the debate on the 2024 Appropriation bill and sought the support of members to pass the budget through Third Reading.
The bill was subsequently considered at the Committee on Supply, chaired by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas. The breakdown of the approved budget revealed that N1.743 trillion is allocated for Statutory Transfers, N8.271 trillion for Debt Service, N8.769 trillion for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure, and N9.995 trillion for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on December 31, 2024.
The fiscal deficit for the year under review amounts to N9.179 trillion and will be financed through various means. Asset sales/privatisation will contribute N298,486,421,740, Multilateral/Bilateral Project-Tied Loans will provide N1,051,914,486,314, and Debt Financing will account for N7,828,529,477,860. In terms of the total Debt Service approved for 2024, N8.271 trillion, N5.300 trillion will be incurred through Domestic Debts, including Ways and Means. Foreign Debts will contribute N2.748 trillion, and the Sinking Fund for the retirement of maturing Promissory Notes stands at N223.662 billion. Moving on to the Statutory Transfer, the National Judicial Council (NJC) received the highest allocation of N341.626 billion, followed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with N338.925 billion. The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) was allocated N263.044 billion, the North East Development Commission (NEDC) received N131.836 billion, and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHPF) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) both received N131.522 billion.
The Public Complaint Commission (PPC) was allocated N14.460 billion, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) received N5 billion. In terms of the National Assembly budget breakdown, the House of Representatives was allocated N78.624 billion, the Senate received N49.145 billion, and the National Assembly Office was allocated N36.727 billion. General Services received N30.807 billion, Legislative Aides were allocated N20.388 billion, and the Service Wide Vote received N15.189 billion.
The National Assembly Hospital Project was allocated N15 billion, the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) received N12.326 billion, and the National Assembly Library Complex (Take-off Grant) was allocated N12.123 billion. N10 billion was allocated for the ongoing construction of the NASC headquarters, N9.008 billion for the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), and N4.500 billion for the completion of the ongoing NILDS building. Additionally, N4 billion was allocated for the National Assembly Recreation Centre, N4 billion for the design, construction, furnishing, and equipping of the NASS Budget & Research Office (NABRO), and N3 billion for the procurement of
The House of Representatives Car Park received N3 billion, while N3 billion was allocated for the upgrade of NASS key infrastructure. Another N3 billion was set aside for the design, construction, furnishing, and equipping of the NASS ultramodern printing press. Additionally, N2.700 billion was allocated for the furnishing of committee meeting rooms and other offices within the Senate building.
The House of Representatives’ committee meeting rooms were also furnished with N3 billion. The NASS Pension Board received N2.500 billion as a take-off grant, while the Office of Retired Clerks & Permanent Secretaries received N1.230 billion. N1 billion was allocated for the Constitution Review, N130 million for the Public Accounts Committee (Senate), and N150 million for the Public Accounts Committee (House). Furthermore, N200 million each was allocated for the Senate Appropriation Committee and the House of Representatives’ Appropriation Committee.
Moving on to the Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure, the Ministry of Defence received the highest allocation of N1.308 trillion, followed by the Ministry of Police Affairs with N869.121 billion. The Ministry of Education received N857.134 billion, while the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare received N667.577 billion.
The Ministry of Interior was allocated N362.552 billion, and the Ministry of Youth received N201.467 billion.
The National Security Adviser (NSA) received N199.763 billion, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received N140.456 billion. The Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security was allocated N110.248 billion, while the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) received N100.248 billion. Lastly, the Presidency was allocated N97.913 billion from the total sum of N50.451 trillion approved for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure.
