BREAKING: House of Reps Passes N7.44tn 2017 Budget

After starting Thursday’s plenary on a rowdy note, the House of Representatives has passed the 2017 Budget.

The House passed the budget after adopting the report of the Appropriation Committee.

President Muhammadu Buhari had presented a budget of N7.298tn to the National Assembly in December 2016, but the Committee on Appropriation headed by Senator Danjuma Goje increased it to 7.441tn.

The passage of the budget was not, however, smooth sailing as there was a rowdy session at the start of plenary.

Plenary had barely begun when the attention of the lawmakers was drawn to the fact that N51bn has been allocated to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Some of the lawmakers, however, supported the allocation of the amount to the SGF while others opposed it.

The Speaker later intervened, explaining that the fund is not meant for the SGF but for the parastatals under the SGF office.

A joint session of the Committee on Appropriation had laid the budget before the National Assembly on Tuesday after which it was agreed that the budget will be passed today.

The passage comes six months after the budget was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Source from channelstv