Jonathan Cuts 2012 Budget By N101B

new budget proposal is now N4.68trn as against the previous N4.7trn, which the President presented to the National Assembly last December by the President.

In a letter addressed to the both chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday, Jonathan explained that the revision of the budget proposal for 2012 year followed recent domestic developments in the country, notably the partial withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products and its effect on government revenue and expenditure items.

The proposal showed a reduction in total capital budget from N1.319trn to N1.281trn while recurrent expenditure was slashed from N2.471trn to N2.432trn.

However, the allocation for fuel subsidy was pegged at N888bn.

Meanwhile, the budgetary allocation of the National Assembly totalling N150 billion was untouched as well as the allocation to the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) whose recurrent and capital budgetary allocation remained at N59.64bn and N6.4bn respectively.

Other top government agencies whose budget were cut include the Presidency whose current expenditure was reduced from N27bn to N25bn, while its capital expenditure was cut from N15bn to N14bn. Secretary to the Government of the Federation’s current budget was cut from N47bn to N45bn, while its budget was reduced from N23.5bn to N22bn.

However the Defence Ministry had its current expenditure increased from N291bn to N296bn as well as a capital increment from N34bn to N35bn. Education also had its recurrent budget slashed from N345bn to N342bn while its capital budget had a decrease from N55bn to N54bn. Also the debt serving figure remained the same.

President Jonathan said, "recent domestic development, key among which include the partial withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products and the ripple effect on government revenue and expenditure items, have necessitated the revision of the 2012-2014 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the 2012 Budget proposal which I presented to the National Assembly on the 13th December 2011."

Jonathan further solicited the co-operation of the lawmakers in expediting action on the revised 2012 budget proposal to ensure its speedy passage.

Work on the 2012 budget had gone a long way in the National Assembly as the various committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives had verified inputs made in the budget by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

The Senate spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe had said the Senate would hopefully pass the budget before proceeding on a retreat in March.

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