December 17, 2014/The Will
Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Wednesday presented a N4.3 trillion proposed appropriation for 2015 before the National Assembly in two separate appearances before the Senate and House of Assembly.
Traditionally, budget presentations in the past have been done by the President before a joint session of both chambers of the National Assembly.
THEWILL gathered that the frosty relations between President Goodluck Jonathan and elected representatives at the National Assembly forced the change.
Okonjo-Iweala did the formal presentation of the budget on behalf of the President without addressing the chambers.
President Jonathan had Tuesday written separately to the President of the Senate, David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, announcing that Okonjo-Iweala would be representing the Presidency at the presentation.
“In consonance with the provision of Section 81 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, I write to request that the distinguished Senate grant the honourable minister of Finance the slot of 11.00 a.m. to enable her lay before you the 2015 budget estimates,” the President wrote.”
After the Presentation at the National Assembly, the Senate adjourned sitting till January 13, 2015, for the Christmas break and to allow the Senators prepare for the forthcoming elections.
Speaking to newsmen after laying the budget, Okonjo-Iweala said as a result of the fall in price of oil in the global market, the government had made efforts to cushion its effect on the economy by diversifying to non-oil sector. The Minister said that the budget focuses on the diversification of the economy.
However, a major highlight of the budget is the oil benchmark price of $65 with production figure of 2.27million barrels per day.
“We have submitted the 2015 budget. The highlights are, the benchmark price for oil of $65; Production figure of 2.27m bpd; We have estimated a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth based on the circumstances of the country, which will be about 5.5 percent. This is down from the 6.35 percent we had earlier from the National Bureau of Statistics which is still one of the best growth rate in the world.”
“The budget seeks to protect the average Nigerian because the key is that it focuses on the diversification of the economy and it has been working because food prices have not risen in spite of the depreciation of the naira. ”
“If you check all around the markets, you will observe that the average Nigerian is still enjoying stable food prices. In some places like Enugu State, the prices of Garri have even fallen. Inflation rate as estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics has fallen from 8.1 to 7.9 percent.”
“This budget really focuses on moving us to diversify the economy and raise non-oil revenue. We have made up for the fall of $13 per barrel, from $17 to $65, by raising non-oil revenue through various types of taxes and policies. The surcharge on luxury goods is there, plus additional tax efforts to close leakages in revenue,” the Minister said.
Commenting on the budget, the Senate President, David Mark, said the red chamber would devote two days to deliberate on it and urged relevant committees to commence work immediately.
The Senate had, earlier during plenary, received the report of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and Science and Technology on the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science and other related matters Bill presented by Senator Emmanuel Bwacha.
The report of the Conference Committee on Nigeria Financial Intelligence Centre Bill, 2014, was withdrawn by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Senator Victor Lar, who said the withdrawal was after consultations with their colleagues in the House of Representatives and other relevant stakeholders.
