From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
The Nigerian Senate has adjourned legislative activities for the year 2021 and also passed the 2022 budget.
As announced during Wednesday’s plenary session the parliamentarians are expected to resume on January 18, 2022.
The Senate held a plenary for a short period on Wednesday, at which it considered and passed the 2022 budget.
After a short break, they reconvened and took the votes and proceedings of the day before adjourning.
The Senate, on Wednesday, approved a N17.126 trillion budget for the 2022 fiscal year, this was after it increased the budgetary expenditure by N800 billion.
The passage of the budget followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on Appropriations on the 2022 Appropriations bill.
Related: NASS jerks up own budget to N139 billion, approves N17.126 trillion for FG
The House of Representatives passed the budget on Tuesday. President Muhammadu Buhari had submitted a budget of N16.391 trillion to the National Assembly.
The Senate raised the oil benchmark to $62 as against the $52 that was proposed by the executive, while the exchange rate was retained at N410.15.
It said the increase in oil price was to reflect the current market values of the oil barrel in the international market.
In his presentation, Chairman of the Committee, Jibrin Barau (APC – Kano North), while giving highlights of the bill, said out of the total sum of N17.126 trillion for the fiscal year 2022, N869.6 billion is for Statutory transfers; N3.8 trillion is for Debt Service; N6.9 trillion is for Recurrent Expenditure; and N5.4 trillion for Capital Expenditure.