National Assembly approves N4.9trn in 2013 budget amendment

The National Assembly on Thursday approved a total of N4, 987, 220,425,601 in the amendment requested by President Jonathan. This is coming following the drama which had trailed the 2013 budget as regard

to the disagreement between the Presidency and the National Assembly.   Despite the differences between the executive and legislature over the amendment, the Senate and the House of Representatives swiftly considered and passed the bill. The amount captured in the amendment is almost the same with the earlier figure approved by the lawmakers in the original budget. The total budget passed by the Senate was N4.987 trillion, out of which N388 billion was for statutory transfers, N591 billion for debt service, N2.415 trillion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while the balance of N1.591 trillion was earmarked for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31 December, 2013. Presidential liaison officer to the National Assembly, Joy Emordi described the passage of the bill as the triumph of constructive dialogue between the presidency and the lawmakers.