Osinbajo Seeks N’Assembly Approval for N222.36bn FCT Budget

• Osinbajo Seeks N’Assembly Approval for N222.36bn FCT Budget

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo wednesday sought the approval of the House of Representatives for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) 2017 statutory budget estimated at about N222.36 billion.

He said the budget was based in the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and key assumptions of the federal government for 2017 budget.

In the letter dated July 20, and personally signed by the acting president, the sum of N52.57 billion or 23.64 per cent of the total is being earmarked for personnel costs while N41.29 billion or 18.57 per cent is proposed for overhead expenses.

Capital expenditure is to gulp N128.49 billion or 57.79 per cent of the total share.

The FCT budget ratio for capital and recurrent expenditure is put at 57.79 percent and 42.21 per cent respectively in line with the federal government emphasis on capital projects, Osinbajo noted.

However, he said the FCT hopes to generate an estimated N139.98 billion in internally generated revenue (IGR) from major revenue generating agencies of the capital city.

It is further relying on the FCT shareof one per cent out of the federal government share from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) including Value Added Tax (VAT).

His letter, addressed to House Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and read on the House floor, recalled that N30.39 billion was appropriated for the FCT in the 2017 approved federal budget.

The statutory budget is usually presented to the National Assembly after passage of the Federal budget in order to enable the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) capture essential capital projects which are often removed from the federal budget.

The FCTA runs two budgets namely the national and statutory budgets-the former funded directly by the federal government while the latter is budged from the statutory allocations.