APA - Lagos (Nigeria) The Nigerian federal government on Tuesday in Abuja presented a N4.07 trillion (about US$27 billion) budget proposal for 2010 to the two chambers of the Nigerian Parliament – the Senate and House of Representatives.
The presidential Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Mohammed Abba-Aji, presented the proposal to Parliament on behalf of President Umaru Yar’adua.
He said that the budget comprised statutory transfers of N 180.2 billion (about US$1.2 billion) and N517 billion (about US$3.4 billion) for Debt Service.
Abba-Aji pointed out that N2 trillion (about US$13.3 billion) was allocated for Recurrent Expenditure and N1.3 trillion for (about US$6.6 billion) Capital Expenditure.
The sectoral allocations showed that education had the lion share, followed by Defence. Police formation and Commands came third while Health took the fourth position in of allocations.
According to the budgetary provisions, the budget is based on oil output of 2.088 million barrels per day on a benchmark of US$57 per barrel of oil and an exchange rate of N150 to US$1.
The target economic growth of the budget is 6.1 percent, while the headline inflation is put at 11.2 percent.
In the presentation address, Abba-Aji said the Nigerian government would launch the “nation onto a trajectory of sustained development that will propel Nigeria to the top twenty economies in the world by the year 2020.”
He said that 2010 National Appropriation Bill was prepared against the background of the global economic crisis that started in 2008 and remained through most of 2009.
The on-going installation of substations and transformers would boost the evacuation of electricity to domestic and commercial consumers, he maintained.
He expressed optimism that the recent Niger Delta peace initiative was facilitating enhanced gas supply to power stations across the country.
Abba- Aji said that the Nigerian government was also forging ahead with key public sector financial management reforms with greater emphasis on increasing non-oil revenue.
He observed that the rationalisation of recurrent expenditure through cost-saving measures implemented under the 2009 Budget had curbed areas of inefficiency and improved prioritisation of expenditure.
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