President Muhammadu Buhari is set to present the budget estimates for the 2022 fiscal year before a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday.
This was disclosed in a letter dated October 4, 2021, addressed to the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan and read out by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who presided over the plenary on Tuesday.
The president, in the letter, is seeking the approval of a revised Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) – parameters on which the 2022 budget will be framed.
MTEF is annual, rolling three year-expenditure planning that sets out the medium-term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints against which sector plans can be developed and refined.
The President, is also seeking an increase in the bational budget for the fiscal year from N13.98 trillion to N16.45, representing an increase of N2.47 trillion.
The president in the proposal said that out of the additional N2trn, 100 billion will be earmarked to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the 2023 general elections.
N50 billion will be earmarked for the Ministry of Health as part of the payment for Hazard Allowance to health wokers. N80 billion will be allocated for public service wage adjustments and additional N37 billion for MDAs’ Electricity Bills Debt.
Also, N54 billion was allocated to National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) which represents one per cent of the federal government’s share of the federation account.
Senator Omo-Agege referred the letter and other documents submitted by Buhari to Committee on Finance for consideration.
The committee which is chaired by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola is expected to give a report on Wednesday. According to Omo-Agege, the decision is to allow for the budget presentation on Thursday.
“You will have to report back to us latest tomorrow (Wednesday) to enable us to use it as a predicate for the budget presentation on Thursday,” Omo-Agege said.
Similarly, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, during Tuesday’s plenary read out Buhari’s letter which contained the revised 2022-2024 MTEF.
The lawmakers from the two chambers are expected to converge at the lower legislative chamber to receive the president.
