President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday presented a N7.298 trillion 2017 budget proposal to the National Assembly bench-marking the proposed bill at N305 against one US dollar and the oil benchmark at $42.50. The document also projected 2.2 million barrels as daily oil production.
The budget, which is 20.4 per cent higher than the current has earmarked 30.7 per cent for capital expenditure “to pull the economy out of recession”, even as the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got the lion share of N520 billion for capital projects.
Buhari, while presenting the budget before a joint sitting of the National Assembly, said; “We will continue to fortify our defence spending till all our enemies within and without are subdued”.
“The people who voted for us are waiting for us to change the course of this nation,” he noted.
The President further stated, “We are increasing funding to the judiciary in order to allow them function even better.”
He also said that, “In 2017, we will focus on the development of infrastructure, especially rail, road and power.”
A breakdown of the budget shows that provisions for capital expenditure is N2.24tn. Health took 51 billion, Industry took 81 billion while Defense took 140 million.
Buhari said he expects the 2017 budget to better the lives of Nigerians in a greater measure than that of 2016.
