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Fri, Mar

Revised Budget: Education, Health & National Assembly Appropriation Slashed

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The Federal Government has slashed the earlier budgeted N37bn for the renovation of the National Assembly to N27.7bn. The Federal Government in a revised Budget proposal on Tuesday slashed about N9.3bn from the earlier budget slated for the renovation of the National Assembly Complex. Contained in the earlier budget, the renovation of the complex was slated to gulp N37bn and to be executed by the Federal Capital Territory Administration was greeted with uproar from members of the public despite the paucity of fund in the national treasury.

However, the dwindling in the crude oil price is threatening every aspect of the economy and the government spending has to be viewed with caution.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday last week presented the year 2020 Appropriation Act (amendment) bill to the National Assembly,  which both the Senate and the House of Reps okay’s it for the second reading same day.

Mr Buhari explained the amendment become necessary in view of the sharp decline of the crude oil price in the global market and the oil production quarter as stipulated by the OPEC.

In the proposed revised budget, as the National Assembly renovation budget was slashed to N27.7bn (making it a 25.1 per cent), the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund meant to cater for the 774 primary healthcare unit across the country was slashed from N44.4bn to N25.5bn (equivalent to 42.5 per cent reduction).

The BHCPF is made up of one per cent of the Federal Government Consolidated Revenue from International partners such as the World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development.

Similarly, the Universal Basic Education also suffered the same fate as its allocation was slashed from N111.7bn to n51.1bn (equivalent to 54%0.

The UBE is an Education reform program aimed at providing greater access to quality basic education throughout Nigeria.

However, the National Assembly budget which was formerlyN128bn was cut down to N115.2bn (equivalent to 10% reduction). Similar justice was meted on the Budget of the National Judicial Council where its budget was cut down from N110bn to N99bn.

Meanwhile, The PUNCH reported that the founder of Dataphyte, Mr Joshua Olufemi, described the cut in the critical sectors like education and health as a set back to the Nigeria quest for development.

He criticised that, provision for basic Health care fund is reduced by over 42 per cent with the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, reduction in budgetary share for education and healthcare does not reflect the prioritisation of the Nigerian needs.

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