The joint session of the National Assembly has passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill of N7.44 trillion, instead of the N7.28 trillion hitherto proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Appropriations Committees of both chambers had separately presented their reports of the budget for consideration and eventual...

The presidential prophecy on ending current economic recession before this year ends is quite reassuring. However, some antitheses have been put forward by Nigerians arguing that the 2017 federal ‘Budget of Recovery and Growth’ is short of critical budgetary ingredients that could spontaneously stimulate...

A financial expert has described the oil price benchmark adjustment by the Senate in the 2017 budget from 42.5 dollars per barrel to 44.5 dollars per barrel as realistic. The Head of Banking and Finance Department, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Dr Uche Uwaleke, said that...

It has sadly become a tradition for annual fiscal plans to be packaged with flowery phrases which elicit hope for rapid improvement in social and economic enhancement, with the expected budget implementation. Regrettably, the promise of Eldorado is never fulfilled, while the social distress...

Debate on the 2017 budget and the bid by President Muhammadu Buhari to secure a $29.96bn foreign loan will top the agenda as the National Assembly reconvenes in Abuja today after the Christmas and New Year break. The lawmakers took a 26-day break soon after...

The Presidency has said the rejection of the proposed $29.96bn external borrowing plan of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration by the Senate would not affect the implementation of the 2017 budget. The Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, said...