The National Assembly has transmitted the 2021 budget of N13.5trillion to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent, it was learnt Monday night.
The National Assembly had passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill on Monday December 21 during a special sitting by both chambers.
Although, the Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jibrin Barau and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare, could not be reached for comment, sources close to the two public officials confirmed the development
Reports also quoted the two personalities to have confirmed that the budget is now being reviewed by Buhari after it was duly transmitted to him by the National Assembly.
By this development, President has up till Thursday 31st December to assent to the Bill in order for its implementation to conform to the January – December fiscal cycle of the present administration.
It could be recalled that both chambers of the National Assembly had also amended the 2020 Appropriation Act by extending its period of implementation to March 31st, 2021.
This amendment means that the capital component of the 2020 budget would be implemented simultaneously with the 2021 appropriation should the President assent to the Budget anytime from now.
Meanwhile, the N13,588,027,886,175.00 budget passed by the National Assembly for the 2021 fiscal year showed an increase of N505billion when compared with the sum of N13,082,420,568,233.00 proposed by the President to a joint session of the National on October 8, 2020.
The 2021 is comprised of Statutory Transfer of N496,528,471,273.00, Recurrent Expenditure of N5,641,970,060,680.00, Capital Expenditure of N4,125,149,354,222.00 and Debt Service of N3,324,380,000,000.00.
It also contained a Budget Deficit of N5,196,007,992,292.00, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth Rate of 3 per cent, Oil benchmark of $40 per barrel, Crude oil production of 1.86 million barrels per day ((mbpd) and an Exchange rate of N379 to $1.00
