President Muhammadu Buhari has presented the 2023 budget proposal to the National Assembly for further legislative work on Friday, October 7.
The N20.51 trillion is christened as the budget of fiscal sustainability and transition.
The 2023 budget, which is the highest in Nigeria’s history, also marks President Buhari’s last presentation at the National Assembly.
According to the details, the projected federal revenue is estimated to be N16.87 trillion, distributable revenue stands at N11.09 trillion while the balance of N9.73 trillion would be used to fund the budget.
Speaking at a combined session of the National Assembly, President Buhari tasked government agencies on increasing their internally generated revenue in a bid to reduce the overdependence on oil.
“Sustenance of revenue diversification strategy would further increase the non-oil revenue share of total revenues,” Buhari said.
A chunk of the revenue needed to finance the budget would be borrowed through bilateral and multilateral loans secured for some developmental projects.
The president also used the opportunity to speak on the achievements of his administration in the last seven years.
He blamed revenue shortfall from the sale of crude and subsidy for the inability of his administration to meet some expectations of Nigerians.
“Petrol subsidy has been a recurring and controversial public policy issue in our country since the early eighties.” However, its current fiscal impact has clearly shown that the policy is unsustainable. As a country, we must now confront this issue, taking cognizance of the need to provide safety nets to cushion the attendant effects on some segments of society, “Buhari said.
