2024 Budget: Tinubu Proposes N8.6trn for Defence, Education, Health, Others
By Kabir Abdulsalam
President Bola Tinubu has proposed to spend N8.61 trillion naira on some five critical areas out of the N27.5 trillion budget proposal he presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday.
The sectors are defence & security, education, health, infrastructure and social development & poverty reduction.
Defence & security sector has the highest vote of N3.26 trillion (12 per cent of the total budget). That figure includes recurrent and capital expenditure vote for the military, police, intelligence and paramilitary agencies.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, disclosed this during the presentation of the 2024 budget breakdown in Abuja.
The sum of N1.23tn was proposed for the Ministry of Education and its agencies. N251.47bn was therefore proposed for the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and N700bn for Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), among others.
The Minister stated that N50bn of the amount would be for the student loan scheme of the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the proposal to the health sector improved by 23.15 per cent to N1.33tn from N1.08tn in the 2023 appropriation.
The President also proposed to spend N1.07tn for the federal ministry of health and its agencies. According to the proposal, N137.21bn was earmarked for Gavi/immunisation funds, including counterpart funding for donor-supported programmes, and N125.74bn as transfer to basic healthcare provision fund.
Funding to infrastructure in the power, transport, water resources, aviation, works and housing sectors was also proposed to gulp N1.32 trillion.
The Minister, while explaining the reasons for the low provision said, the President had directed for increased private sector involvement in infrastructure provision.
He noted that all ministries have been directed to pursue strategies to woo domestic and international investors to contribute to the improvement of the country’s infrastructure.
“On infrastructure spending, part of the instruction of Mr President to the cabinet is that as he did in Lagos, we have to bring in private sector investments into infrastructure. He has mandated all ministries to examine how to access investors who are willing to put money into infrastructure. What the government can put into infrastructure is small compared to what the private sector can bring.
“So, a number of roads and railways, airports, housing and a number of infrastructure projects will be considered,” he said.
Additionally, N534bn was proposed for social investments and poverty reduction programmes in 2024. The President proposed to spend N10.26tn on non-debt recurrent expenditure, N8.25tn on debt servicing, N243bn on sinking funds, and N8.70tn on capital expenditures.
The Minister further noted that the 2024 budget was prepared amidst the backdrop of a challenging global and domestic economic environment.
“The current global situation is marked by slowing economic growth, persistent inflation leading to interest rate hikes, which can hinder capital inflows into emerging markets.
“Investment spending is also constrained, supply chains are disrupted, and geopolitical tensions, particularly the Russia-Ukraine war, have significantly impacted global food and energy prices” the Minister noted.
