Executives Reviewing 2019 Appropriation Bill, Says Finance Minister.
BARBARA BAKO, Abuja.
The Minister of Finance Mrs Zainab Ahmed says the executive arm is at the final stage of the review of the 2019 Appropriation Bill submitted by the legislature and the report will soon be submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari to guide him in approving the fiscal document.
The federal lawmakers after their scrutiny of the bill, submitted it to the president in April for his assent. The minister who explained that N2.79 trillion capital votes had been spent out of the 2018 budget by May 14, noted that the last year capital budget is still running concurrently with the current year’s budget on a provisional basis for salaries and recurrent expenditure. “So we have a situation whereby we have two different periods running side by side, so at any point in time we have a budget that is running.
“The law allows us on a provisional basis to run 50 per cent of the previous year’s provision on the current year’s budget. “When the budget is assented to, we will now transfer all the transactions that have happened to the 2019 budget, so there is no gap”, she said. Ahmed, however, said that the executive would work with the ninth National Assembly, to streamline the process and return to the January-December cycle. On implementation of the new National Minimum Wage, she said that the financial implications had been worked out by the Presidential Committee that was set up and that the report had been submitted to the president.
She said, “We have looked at the report and what we are working on now is how we can finance it. “Apart from the increase of the minimum wage from N18, 000 to N30, 000, there is also a consequential adjustment that we have to negotiate with the labour unions. “The total implication of that would be worked out only after the negotiations and that would involve determining how much increase every other staff that is above the minimum wage would get.
“It could be a flat amount or a proportion, but the other aspect that is clear is that there would be an increase for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as well because by the Act they should earn at least the minimum wage and the NYSC also has to increase to that N30, 000. “So, because we have not done the negotiation with labour, I cannot give you the details of what we are projecting because it is simply on projections, at the end of the day, it is what we agree with labour that will be the amount that is due.” On revenue performance, however, the Ahmed said that from all indications, the nation was faring better in 2019 than it did in 2018 as indicated by the rising oil production levels which had gone up from an average of 1.9 million barrels per day (mbpd) to 2.1 mbpd.
She said, “The comfort we have is that Egina came on stream in November 2018 and it has the capacity to produce between 150,000 to 250,000 barrels per day. “While the production volumes have not reached what was budgeted at 2.3 mbpd, the average crude oil price in the global market at 71 dollars per barrel is helping us to balance the shortfall because our budget was cut at 60 dollars per barrel.” Meanwhile, the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO) Ms Patience Oniha who was at the event said the 30-year bond that was introduced in April was for the benefit of the Federal Government as it would help in managing liabilities and financing infrastructure.
She added that it was also to encourage the private sector to support economic growth and issue securities in the tenor the government had done. The acting Executive Commissioner, Operations, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Mr Isyaku Tilde also present at the event said multiple applications were affecting the quantum of unclaimed dividends and even the liquidity in the market.
He said that the issue of multiple applications came about between 2005 and 2008 in the boom period in the capital market and subscribers used different names to purchase shares which made it difficult to consolidate the two accounts because the names were not the same. According to him, the names have to be the same before the accounts can be consolidated as there is a forbearance period that will last till Dec. 31.
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