With just few days to the end of 2022, Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Wednesday has approved the N21.83 trillion 2023 fiscal year appropriation bill into law.
The approved budget showed an increase of N1.32 trillion from the N20.51 trillion budget proposal earlier presented to the lawmakers by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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According to the budget, the sum of N967.5 billion was allocated for statutory transfers while N6.6 trillion was allocated for debt servicing.
The sum allocated for debt servicing is significantly more than the N5.9 trillion meant to cater for capital expenditure.
While the sum allocated for capital expenditure is significantly lower than the N8.3 trillion allocated for recurrent expenditure.
Similarly, the Senate passed the 2022 supplementary budget of N819.5 billion.
The red chamber, according to Channels TV, held that the amendment of the 2022 fiscal year Appropriation Act was to ensure the implementation of the key capital project in the Act which has not been funded as of this time.
The Senate noted that it was expedient that the capital projects should be extended to prevent the problem of abandoning projects in the budget.
The N819.5 billion supplementary budget according to the Senate is to address food security following the devastating effects of floods that ravaged many states across the country. It is also meant to take care of damaged road infrastructure and the water sector.
The approved supplementary budget according to a report by the Committee on Finance showed that the sum of N69 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture while the Ministry of Water Resources gets N15.5 billion. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Ministry of Works and Housing get N30 billion and N704 billion respectively.
Similarly, the National Assembly on Wednesday passed the Finance Bill which proposes key reforms to specific taxation, customs, excise and fiscal laws.
The passed finance bill has several amendments including the Capital Gains Tax Act, Companies Income Tax Act, Personal Income Tax Act, Petroleum Profits Tax Act, as well as Stamp Duties Act, Value Added Tax, and Public Procurement Act.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola, while presenting a report on the Finance Bill, said it is intended to enhance tax equity by bringing more economic sectors into the tax net and ensuring a fairer distribution of revenue receipts to all tiers of government.
Senator Adeola noted that the bill seeks to change the name of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to Nigeria Revenue Service.
The board will be headed by a chairman who is separate from the management as the management will be headed by a chief executive who will be known as the Commissioner General.
The bill further increased the rate of the tertiary education trust fund tax from 2.5% to 3%.
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