The two chambers of the National Assembly, on Wednesday passed the harmonised budget of N6.061 trillion for 2016.
The budget, which was read for the 3rd time in both chambers at plenary session, was N17 billion less than the earlier budget of N6.078 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The document, which had a smooth sail, was predicated on oil benchmark of 38 dollars per barrel, crude oil projection of 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day, and an exchange rate of N197 to one dollar.
The 2016 appropriation bill would be transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent.
Briefing newsmen later, Chairmen of the Senate and House Joint Committees on Appropriations, Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin, advised the executive to present budget early to the National Assembly for consideration.
They recommended a shore up in capital expenditure by reducing recurrent expenditure in the 2017 fiscal year.
They disclosed that the N500 billion special intervention fund proposed by the federal government was not touched because of the need to touch lives positively.
The breakdown of the budget shows that N2.646 trillion is for recurrent expenditure, N1.588 trillion for capital expenditure, N1.475 trillion for debt services, N351.370 billion for statutory transfer, while nominal deficit is N2.205 trillion, representing 2.14 per cent deficit/GDP.
The Senate and the House have adjourned plenary session to April 12 for the Easter break.
The Presidency on Wednesday commended the National Assembly for passing the 2016 Appropriation Bill.
The Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, told newsmen at a press briefing in Abuja that the expeditious consideration and passage of the bill was laudable.
He further commended the Senate and House committees on appropriation as well as the sub-committees for working hard in ensuring that the budget was passed.
“I followed the entire process and I have seen the industry that has been exhibited by the senators.
“I want to say that we appreciate particularly the fact that in the course of consideration, the committee chairmen, the committee members and the chairmen of appropriation committees were in constant touch,’’ he said.
The special adviser further commended the legislature for approving the harmonised version of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework(MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper(FSP), adding that they were the parameter for passing the budget.
Enang also extolled the media for extensive coverage of the process leading to the passage of the budget.
President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2016 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.
