Jonathan may receive 2014 budget today

The National Assembly is to transmit the 2014 budget to President Goodluck Jonathan today for his assent, it was learnt yesterday.

The Senate and the House of Representatives passed the budget on April 9 and 10 respectively.

A source told our reporter last night that the two chambers were set to transmit the budget to Jonathan today so that he would approve it for full expenditure to take effect.

Our source said the delay in transmitting the budget two weeks after its passage by the two chambers was necessitated by “some hitches,” but that “things have been sorted out.”

A breakdown of the budget showed that N2.454 trillion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure; N1.119 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for capital expenditure; N712 billion for debt service, while N408.687 billion is for statutory transfers.

The budget proposal was laid on the floor of the House on December 19 following weeks of dispute between President Jonathan and the National Assembly over the oil benchmark. While Jonathan proposed $74 per barrel, the two chambers settled on $77.5 per barrel.