Nigerian Senate passes N4.6 trillion 2014 budget

The budget was laid December 2013
The Nigerian Senate has approved President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposal to spend N4.6 trillion as the government budget in 2014.
The Senate, however, raised the figure by relatively minimal N53 billion.
The budget, the lowest in three years, passed the second reading on February 4. The approval came four months into the new fiscal year.
A third reading passage is expected by the House of Representatives before a harmonization of the bill, ahead of the president’s assent.
The original budget sum presented to the lawmakers by the finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on behalf of the president, was N 4.642 trillion. The budget bill was submitted in December 2013.
Out of that sum, 3.54 trillion was slated for the recurrent expenditure while the remaining N1.1 trillion-the equivalent of 23.7 percent, was billed for capital projects.
Critics have questioned a spending plant that consistently gives too much to government running cost than development.