By Admin 

The National Assembly was on Monday, 21st of December, 2020  passed the 2021 budget.

The Senate and the House of Reps in their respective session passed the N13.588 trillion budget, a slight increment from N505,607,317,874 to the proposal presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 8, 2020.

The budget was passed in the House following the consideration of the report of the National Assembly Joint committee on Appropriations laid by the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Mustapha Batera.

In the Senate, the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jibrin Barau presented the report during plenary.

According to Barau, the COVID-19 pandemic affected all sectors of the economy adding that the executive arm of government could present a supplementary budget.

He said: “That the impact of COVID-19 has affected all facets of life. There is a remarkable increase of Nigeria’s oil price.

“In view of increasing oil prices, the executive may wish to submit a supplementary bill to lift the country out of recession.”

The exchange rate benchmark was pegged at N379/$ and crude oil production at 1.86 million barrels per day (including 400,000 barrels of condensate) at $40 per barrel, as proposed by the executive.

The country projects three percent as Gross Domestic Product growth and 11.95 percent for the inflation rate.

Also, the increase in the budget puts capital expenditure at N4.125 trillion from N3.6 trillion.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said that the ninth National Assembly passed the budget in record time to keep to the promise made during its inauguration.

“We will maintain this tempo so that our successors can continue from where we stopped,’’ he said.

The House has now adjourned to the 26th of January.