National Assembly Pass 2018 Budget, Raise It By N500 Billion

The Senate and the House of Representatives have passed the 2018 budget, raising it by N500 billion.
Both Houses on Wednesday approved a budget that rose from N8.6 trillion to N9.1 trillion, six months after it was presented by the executive.
President Muhammadu Buhari presented the budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 7, 2017.
Both houses of the National Assembly on Tuesday received the budget report of their appropriation committees.
National Assembly Increases  2018 Budget From 8.6trn to  N9.1trn
At the Senate, the chairman of the Senate committee on appropriation, Danjuma Goje, said the increase of N500 billion was done in consultation with the executive.
He said the increment was informed by a decision to increase oil benchmark from the proposed N45 to N51.
The exchange rate of N305 to a dollar and production of 2.3 million barrels of oil per day was adopted as proposed by the executive.

Mr. Goje said the funds accrued from the increment will be spent on some projects already earmarked by the committee.