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Senate passes N10.594tr 2020 budget

Published

6 years ago

December 5, 2019

Senate passes N10.594tr 2020 budget

..increases estimates by N264bn

The Senate on Thursday passed the 2020 Budget of N10.594 trillion, as against N10.33trillion presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Senators effected an increase of N264billion on the Budget.

The passage, followed the consideration and adoption of the budget report of Senate Committee on Appropriation chaired by Senator Jibrin Barau.

Senator Barau while presenting his report at plenary, said the committee adopted the 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) as approved by the National Assembly.

He said the committee worked in tandem with the Executive in the consideration of the Bill especially in additional revenue projection to fund critical projects.

He said the increase in the budget was to allow for interventions in areas like national security, road infrastructure, mines and steel development, health, social needs among others.

Following a clause-by-clause consideration of the report, at the Committee of the Whole, the Senate passed the Bill.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan, thanked his colleagues for their efforts on the budget, saying the success recorded on the budget was in conjunction with the House of Representatives.

He expressed satisfaction that the ninth Senate has achieved one of its key promises to return the budget cycle to January -December.

“We have done so much in a short while. We have given the executive everything they need – budget, finance bill, MTEF, among others,” Lawan said.

The Senate President said the upper chamber will interact with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on a quarterly basis to monitor the implementation of the budget.

“We hope that with this budget passed, the executive will ensure full implementation for the benefit of all Nigerians,” Lawan said.

He said the National Assembly has provided the executive what it needed to implement the budget.

He noted that the National Assembly would take its oversight duties very seriously.

He said the National Assembly would ensure that Nigerians get what they desire from government.

The breakdown of the budget as passed by Senate is as follows:

Aggregate Expenditure- N10.594trillion

Statutory transfers– N560 billion

Debt service – N2.725 trillion

Recurrent expenditure – N4.842 trillion

Capital expenditure – N2.465 trillion.

Fiscal Deficit N2.28 trillion

Deficit to GDP 1.52 per cent

Oil production 2.18 mbpd

Oil benchmark $57 per barrel

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CELEBRATING A CENTURY-OLD CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR TRAJECTORY IN NIGERIA

Published

1 week ago

December 1, 2025

The Gleamer

This week, millions of Nigerians and others across the globe will join the Ministry of Aviation and Space Development under the irrepressible leadership of the Honourable Minister, Festus Keyamo(SAN),and all the notable Aviation sector stakeholders in and outside the country,in celebrating a century of Nigeria’s civil aviation history.

There is no doubt that under the present leadership of the Honourable Minister and within the short spell of time in his stewardship,he has consciously and intentionally embarked on a “silent revolution” for the industry with very veritable and laudable landmarks that have consistently grown the industry.

Some of these spirited efforts for instance have consequently led to trust restoration amongst international lessors, financier,any global partners.Of note also is assidiously working for the full domestication and implementation of the “Cape Town Convention Agreement” ,which gives Airlines access to modern fleets of competitive rates as well as enforcement of IDERA(Irrevocable Deregulation and Export Request Authorization).

Having well applauded these vital contemporary initiatives,it will also be germane to cast our minds in retrospect by taking a peep into our history over several decades to recognise some of the notable forebears in the industry whose impressionabl efforts cannot be overlooked,as they took the impetuous initiatives of breaking the ice at the nascent stage.
It will aptly corroborate the truism which says that… ” a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”.

The above is vividly captured from a tribute by the First Republic Minister of Aviation Chief Mbazulike Amaechi at the funeral of late Igwe of Oba,HRH Peter Ezenwa(MFR) in 2018.
It states inter alia…”One significant thing I will say many people didn’t know is that the first indigenous airline that was to run in Nigeria was known as “STANDARD AIRLINE”.It was founded in 1966 by a company formed by Igwe Peter Ezenwa from Oba,and had on board,John Nwankwu from Abagana,Edward Ebo from Ezinifitte,(all from Anambra state),John Anyaehie from Nkwerre in Imo state,and lastly my very self Mbazulike Amaechi.
The five of us later acquired two brand new aircrafts,and had four pilots,namely;Unachievable,John Emma Ngwu and Felix Offor,who was to be the General Manager of the airline.
But just about the time for the take-off the crisis of the military takeover erupted in the North as the planes were on their way for delivery to us.In fact the bank handling the transaction was to allow the planes to be flown from the USA,but the news of the war broke out in 1967,the insurance company cabled for the cancellation of the deal as they will not be able to cover the risk cost of aircrafts being flown into war zone.
So,we asked the manufacturers to take the two aircrafts back to their country and hold on for six months with the hope of that the war will end within the requested time frame,but the war didn’t end as thought.We consequently asked for refund and they deducted some money and refunded the balance which was deposited at the London branch of African Continental Bank(ACB).

When the government took over the operations of ACB,we still hoped for the refund but unfortunately were disappointed that the Federal government took over the whole money and we lost everything.”

Further in line with our historical perspective,it will also be pertinent some of the later years reformists in the likes of Engr Onyereri and Harold Demuren who advertently sponsored some far reaching regulations that eventually steered the industry towards greater autonomy with the passage of the 2005 Civil Aviation Act,which I was also a prime participant of in my capacity as an Aviation sub chair in then House of Representatives.

As we mark this great century milestone,and with the clear evidential pathway set out by the current managers of the industry under the indomitable leadership of Honourable Minister, I do not see the sky posing any limitations as they say,but rather availing new vistas of limitless growth opportunities.

CONGRATULATIONS.

Hon Chidi Nwogu
Former member House of Representatives & presently Governing Council member
,African Aviation and Aerospace University,Abuja.

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