As Nigeria seeks to shift away from oil as its primary source of revenue, President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2016 budget proposal to the National Assembly. On Monday, the Federal Executive Council approved the final draft of the N6 trillion budget with a capital vote of N2 trillion.

GDP Growth Rate Projection 4.37%
Revenue Projection 3.86 Naira
Deficit 2.22 trillion Naira (equivalent to 2.16% of Nigeria’s GDP)
Oil Related Revenues 820 billion Naira
Non-oil Revenues 1.45 trillion Naira
 Projected Independent Revenues 1.51 trillion Naira
Capital Expenditure 1.8 trillion Naira (30%  of total budget)
Works, Power and Housing 433.4 billion Naira
Transport 202.0 billion Naira
Interior 53.1 billion Naira
Special Intervention Programs 300 billion Naira
Education 369.6 billion Naira
Defence 294.5 billion Naira
Health 221.7 billion Naira
Ministry of Interior 145.3 billion Naira
Foreign and Domestic Debt Service 1.36 trillion Naira
Sinking Fund towards the retirement of maturing loans 113 billion Naira
Non-debt Recurrent Expenditure 2.65 trillion Naira

In his speech to the members of the National Assembly, President Buhari, while acknowledging the global and domestic challenges that the country faced in 2015, expressed optimism for the new year. He conveyed his hope for Nigeria to experience an unprecedented economic growth, declaring that his administration will work towards fulfilling his campaign promises.

Here are memorable excerpts from his speech:

Economic growth

“We aim to ensure macroeconomic stability by achieving a real GDP growth rate of 4.37% and managing inflation. To achieve this, we will ensure the aligning of fiscal, monetary, trade and industrial policies. As we focus on inclusive growth, we are conscious of the current rate of unemployment and underemployment. This is a challenge we are determined to meet; and this budget is the platform for putting more Nigerians to work. I can assure you that this administration will have a job-creation focus in every aspect of the execution of this budget. Nigeria’s job creation drive will be private sector led. We will encourage this by a reduction in tax rates for smaller businesses as well as subsidized funding for priority sectors such as agriculture and solid minerals.”

Education

“As an emergency measure, to address the chronic shortage of teachers in public schools across the country, we also will partner with State and Local Governments to recruit, train and deploy 500,000 unemployed graduates and NCE holders. These graduate teachers will be deployed to primary schools, thereby, enhancing the provision of basic education especially in our rural areas.”

SMEs

“We also intend to partner with State and Local Governments to provide financial training and loans to market women, traders and artisans through their cooperative societies. We believe that this segment of our society is not only critical to our plan for growing small businesses, but it is also an important platform to create jobs and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs.”

Stipends for vulnerable citizens

“Furthermore, through the office of the Vice President, we are working with various development partners to design an implementable and transparent conditional cash transfer program for the poorest and most vulnerable. This program will be implemented in phases. Already, the compilation of registers of the poorest persons is ongoing. In the coming weeks, we will present the full programme, which will include our home-grown public primary school feeding and free education for science, technology and education students in our tertiary institutions. Indeed, this will mark a historic milestone for us as a nation.”

On the 2016 budget

“Indeed, the future looks bright and I ask that we all work together to make this vision a reality. The 223 percent year-on-year growth in capital expenditure demonstrates our desire to make Nigeria more competitive and start the journey to deliver sustainable development in our country. In fulfillment of our promise to run a lean government, we have proposed a 9 percent reduction in non-debt recurrent expenditure, from N2.59 trillion in the 2015 Budget to N2.35 trillion in 2016. Furthermore, we have budgeted N300 billion for Special Intervention Programs, which takes the total amount for non-debt recurrent expenditure to N2.65 trillion. The Efficiency Unit set up by this administration, together with effective implementation of GIFMIS and IPPIS, will drive a reduction of overheads by at least 7 percent, personnel costs by 8 percent and other service wide votes by 19 percent. Distinguished and honourable members, this budget will be executed to provide optimum value by ensuring every naira spent by this government, counts.”

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