Senate passes N876 billion NDDC 2023 budge
Written by Joey Shekwonuzhibo on May 17, 2023
The Senate has approved the 2023 budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, totaling N876 billion.
The sum of N451 million was also approved as provisions for aides of 12 NDDC board members.
The approved budget also contains N576 million earmarked for running the Office of the Chairman of the Commission, Laurreta Onochie.
The breakdown for the office of the Chairman showed that the personnel cost would gulp N156 million, overhead N312 million and Internal capital, N108 million.
For the Managing Director’s Office, N546.597 million was earmarked for personnel cost, N747.500 million for overhead cost and N163.504 million for Internal Capital among others.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has incurred a deficit spending of N36.8 trillion in eight years under the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2022.
Expert analysis of data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Federal Government finances from 2015 to 2022 revealed that 77 per cent of the deficit spending occurred in the last four years, from 2019 to 2022.
The data revealed that total revenue for the eight years stood at N32.05 trillion, while total expenditure during the period stood at N68.8 trillion, indicating deficit spending of N36.8 trillion.
In the first four years, that is 2015 to 2018, the government recorded N13.9 trillion as revenue but spent N24.3 trillion, resulting in deficit spending of N10.4 trillion.
However, the deficit spending jumped by 60 per cent in the last four years, 2019 to 2022.