Empire States Blog

6 POSITIVE ASSURANCES FROM BUHARI'S SPEECH DURING 2017 BUDGET PRESENTATION

President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2017 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly today, December 14.

The presentation of the N7.298 trillion 2017 budget with 20.4% increase over the 2016 estimate was scheduled for 10 am but did not start till 2.18 pm.

The 2017 budget was bench-marked at N 305 against the US dollar ($1) with 2.2 million barrels.

The 2017 budget also sets a benchmark of $42.5 per barrel of oil, as against $38 in 2016.

The president apologized for the delay, saying he had to travel to Banjul in Gambia to convince President Yahyah Jammeh to hand over power to Adama Barrow, the president-elect.

Below are 6 takeaways from Buhari’s speech during the presentation of the budget.

1. Building the nation’s economy

The president stressed the need for the country to focus on building the economy by producing more rather than depend on imported goods. He said for the nation to achieve self-sufficiency, more work needs to be done.

"I hereby make a special appeal to states to make land available to farmers," he said.

2. Increase the production of oil

Buhari noted that his administration was determined to get the production of oil back to at least 2.2 million bpd.

3. Infrastructure

The government will focus on the development of infrastructure, especially road and rail in 2017.

4. Power sector

He said this sector is experiencing funding issues though there has been an intervention. He said a provision was made in the 2017 budget to offset the country's electricity bills.

5. The war against insurgency

Buhari said his administration was committed to maintaining peace and security nationwide.

“We will continue to fortify our defence spending till all our enemies within and without are subdued.

“The people who voted for us are waiting for us to change the course of this nation,” he said.

6. Provisions in the budget

He disclosed that N100billion was allocated to the judiciary to allow them do their job with independence. Defence got the budgetary allocation or N140billion, water resources N85billion, interior N63billion, education N58billion, UBE commission N92billion, FCT N37billion and NDDC N61billion.

Buhari expressed optimism that the 2017 budget will make the lives of Nigerians better than it did in 2016.

This will be the second budget the president is presenting to the National Assembly. The first which was presented in 2015 was trailed by controversy. Buhari refused to give assent as the budget was said to be padded.

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