On Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari urged members of the National Assembly to refrain from approving Government Owned Enterprises, GOE, budgets without following the correct procedures.
The president unveiled the N20.51 trillion budget, nicknamed the "Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition," which is the final one he will propose before his term ends.
Earlier in the year, the president bemoaned the reduction in funding for around 10,733 projects while the National Assembly added 6,576 new projects to the budget. Additionally, he claimed that the Service-Wide Vote's inclusion of additional provisions for NASS projects totalling N36.59 billion violates the concepts of the separation of powers and financial independence of the several branches of government.
Buhari warned that appropriation for GOEs in the 2023 budget must be returned to the executive after due approval by the relevant committees
“I would like to implore the leadership of the National Assembly to ensure that the budget I lay here today, which includes those of the GOEs, be returned to the Presidency when passed,” Buhari said
“The current practice where some committees of the National Assembly purport to pass budgets for GOEs, which are at variance with the budgets sanctioned by me, and communicate such directly to the MDAs is against the rules and needs to stop.”
A breakdown of the budget shows that N8.27 trillion was set aside for non-debt recurrent costs, N5.35 trillion for capital expenditure, N1.1 trillion for overhead costs and N744.11 billion was earmarked for statutory transfers.