President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday presented a budget of N8.61 trillion for the 2018 fiscal year. The budget is 16 per cent higher than that of 2017. Buhari presented the budget before the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. The 2018 budget is based on crude oil benchmark of US$45 per barrel with estimated daily production of 2.3 million barrels. The President also said that the budget was based on exchange rate of N305 to one dollar.
The budget expenditure is made up of N2.41 trillion for capital and N3.49 trillion for recurrent. President Buhari whose speech was drew applause of the lawmakers described the budget as that of “consolidation’’ and gave the hope that 2018 would be a better one. The budget, he said, was prepared and dedicated to the country’s economic recovery and growth. He appealed to the militants in the oil rich Niger Delta not to revert to violence or engage in destruction of oil and gas facilities and advised that dialogue was the key in ensuring peace and development.
“We must come together to address our grievances. Threat and violence is not the way out,’’ he said. Buhari also appealed to members of the National Assembly to threat with budget estimate with all seriousness so that the country could revert to its January to December fiscal year.
He revealed he had directed that the military and other agencies should be enrolled in the Integrated Payroll of Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for the purpose of paying their salaries centrally to eliminate ghost workers.
