The National Assembly on Thursday nearly made history with the passage of N10.59 trillion budget for the year 2020 in keeping with its major legislative agenda of returning the country’s budget cycle to a more predictable one as well as stabilizing the economy.
It received the Appropriation Bill on October 8, 2019 and passed it on Thursday December 5, 2019, falling a few days behind the record set under President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000.
In that year, the 2001 budget proposal was presented to the National Assembly on November 9, 2000, passed on December 21 of the same year and the president signed it into law the same month. It took one month and 12 days before passage, according to National Assembly records. (See details of timelines of Budget presentation and passage below).
It was an unpredictable submission, passage, and assentment until the Year 2007 Budget was presented again in 2006. It was passed and signed into law before that year’s end for use in 2007. It took two months and 16 days to be passed. Obasanjo presented it on October 6 of 2006 and it was asserted to after passage on December 22.
Thursday’s passage of the 2020 Budget makes it the third time in the 20 years old democracy that the Federal Government will achieve a January to December budget year. But the ninth National Assembly may better the 2006 record if President Muhammadu Buhari signs the bill into law before Christmas day.
The 2020 Appropriation Bill was passed into law after a clause by clause consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
The Senate specifically approved N10,594,362,364,830 (Ten trillion, Five hundred and Ninety-Four Billion, Three Hundred and Thirty Naira) for the 2020 fiscal year.
The breakdown shows that N560,470,827,235 is for statutory transfers, N2,725,498,930,000 for Debt Service; N4,842,974,600,640 for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure; and N2,465,418,006,955 for Contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on December 31, 2020.
The budget has a Fiscal deficit of N2.2 trillion and Deficit/Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 1.52 percent.
The budget is predicated on Crude Oil production of 2.18mbpd, just as proposed by the Executive; Oil Price benchmark of 57 dollar per barrel as against US$55 proposed by the Executive, Exchange Rate of N305 to US$1; Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Inflation Rate of 2.93 percent and 10.81 percent respectively.
Capital Expenditure for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) for the 2020 fiscal year are: Ministry of Defence N116,181,290,730; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, N7,608,141,474; Ministry of Information and Culture, N7,555,803,233; Ministry of Interior, N34,035,825,302; Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, N1,722,796,040; Ministry of Police Affairs, N15,959,986,864; Ministry of Communication Technology, N5,919,002,554; and Office of the National Security Adviser, N27,418,469,323.
Others are: Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, N25,188,940,930; Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, N2,158,620,395; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, N124,395,096,917; Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, N4,976,199,925; Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, N38,583,331,761; Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, N24,445,756,678; Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, N62,882,531,566; Federal Ministry of Transport, N121,366,932,571; and Federal Ministry of Aviation, N52,061,533,122.
Also, for the 2020 fiscal year, the Ministry of Power has an allocation of N129,082,499,363; Ministry of Petroleum Resources, N3,337,444,887; Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, N10,431,563,177; Ministry of Works and Housing, N315,563,564,269; Ministry of Water Resources, N91,679,927,042; Ministry of Justice, N3,853,600,220; Federal Capital Territory Administration, N62,407,154,360; and Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, N23,120,350,399.
Others include: Ministry of Youths and Sports Development, N3,735,486,210; Military of Women Affairs, N6,650,300,966; Federal Ministry of Education, N84,728,529,572; Ministry of Health, N59,909,430,837; Federal Ministry of Environment, N12,350,140,731; and Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, N61,085,146,003.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, in his concluding remarks after the 2020 budget was passed, said, “when we came in, all of us approved our legislative agenda, and one of the key pillars of this agenda is to take back our budget cycle from the very undesirable cycle that can not be defined to something that can be defined and bought into by our country and business partners living in and outside the country.
“Today, we have been able to achieve this. It means where there is will, there is always a way. This is something that we have been able to achieve together with the House of Representatives.
“I must give members of the Ninth National Assembly the credit, because we thought it was going to be impossible.
“Let me also commend the buying-in of the executive arm of government. When we continued to preach that we have to receive the 2020 budget estimates before the end of September, it was not easy for the executive.
“I know they (Executive) worked day and night. So it was presented to us on the 8th of October. We have been able to work harmoniously. There is no way we can achieve this without all of us working together.
“I want to commend our colleagues from the opposition. This Senate from the beginning, we said, will be bi-partisan. You have given us all the support that we require, and indeed, this is the way it should be”, Lawan added.
The Senate President also noted that with the recent passage of landmark legislations such as the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) Act, Finance Bills and Public Procurement Bills by the National Assembly, the Executive arm of government is sufficiently empowered to ensure the successful implementation of the 2020 budget.
Below is a timeline of Budget Passage and assent from 1999 to 2019
Year 2000 Budget
The budget for year 2000 was laid before the National Assembly on November 24, 1999. It was passed by the Legislature on April 14, 2000, later transmitted to the then president, who signed it into law on May 5, 2000. It took four months and 21 days before passage.
Year 2001 Budget
The 2001 budget proposal was presented to the National Assembly on November 9, 2000, passed on December 21 of the same year and the president signed it into law the same month. It took one month and 12 days before passage.
Year 2002 Budget
The 2002 budget was laid on the floor of the National Assembly on November 7, 2001, while the Legislature passed it on March 28, 2002, as the president signed it the same month. It took four months and 21 days to be passed.
Year 2003 Budget
As for the 2003 budget, it was presented to the National Assembly on November 20, 2002. It was passed by the Legislature on March 11, 2003, and the president signed it into law on April 10, 2003. It was passed in three months and 19 days.
Year 2004 Budget
The 2004 budget was laid before the National Assembly on December 18, 2003, while the lawmakers passed it on April 20, 2004, and the president assented to it on April 21, of the same year. It was passed in four months and two days.
Year 2005 Budget
The then president presented the 2005 budget to the National Assembly on October 12, 2004. It was passed on March 18, 2005, while the president signed it into law on April 12 of the same year. Passed in five months and six days.
Year 2006 Budget
The 2006 budget was laid before the National Assembly on December 6, 2005. It was passed on February 21, 2006, while the president assented to it on April 22, 2006. It took two months and 15 days to be passed.
Year 2007 Budget
The money bill for 2007 was presented to the Legislature on October 6, 2006, and it was passed on December 22 of the same year. The president assented to it in the same month. It took two months and 16 days to be passed.
Year 2008 Budget
The 2008 budget got to the National Assembly on November 8, 2007. It was passed on March 27, 2008, while the president signed it into law on April 14 of the same year. It was passed in four months and 19 days.
Year 2009 Budget
The 2009 budget was presented to the National Assembly on December 2, 2008 and was passed on February 3, 2009. The then president signed it into law on March 10, 2009. That year’s budget was passed in two months and a day.
Year 2010 Budget
The year 2010 budget was laid before the National Assembly on November 23, 2009 and passed March 25, 2010 and assented to by the president on April 22, 2010. It took four months and two days to be passed.
Year 2011 Budget
The 2011 budget was presented on December 15, 2010. The National Assembly passed it on May 25, 2011, and it was assented to by the then president on May 27, 2011. It was passed in five months and 10 days.
Year 2012 Budget
The year 2012 budget got to the National Assembly on December 13, 2011. It was passed on March 15, 2012 and assented to on April 13, 2012. It took three months and two days to be passed.
Year 2013 Budget
The 2013 budget was laid on October 10, 2012. It was passed on December 20, 2012. The then president signed it into law on February 26, 2013. It was passed within two months and 10 days.
Year 2014 Budget
The 2014 budget was laid before the National Assembly on December 19, 2013. It was then passed on April 11, 2014. The president signed it into law on May 24, 2014. It was passed within three months and 22 days.
Year 2015 Budget
The 2015 budget was presented on December 17, 2014. It was passed on April 28, 2015, while the president signed it into law on May 19, 2015. It was passed within four months and 11 days.
Year 2016 Budget
The 2016 budget was presented on December 22, 2015. It was passed by the Legislature on March 23, 2016, while the president signed it into law on May 6, 2016. It took three months and one day before passage.
Year 2017 Budget
The 2017 budget was presented on December 14, 2016. The National Assembly passed it on May 11, 2017 as the then acting president assented to it on June 22, 2017. It took four months and 27 days before passage.
Year 2018 Budget
The 2018 budget got to the National Assembly on November 7, 2017. It was passed on May 16, 2018, and the president signed it into law on June 20, 2018. It took six months and eight days before passage.
Year 2019 Budget
The 2019 budget was presented on December 19, 2018. It was passed on April 30, 2019, and the president signed it into law on May 27. It was passed within four months and 11 days. Year 2020 Budget The 2020 budget was presented to the National Assembly on October 8, 2019 and passed on December 5, 2019. It took one month and 27 days to be passed.