President Goodluck Jonathan presented a N4.9tn budget to the National Assembly for the 2013 fiscal year.
In
the estimates titled, budget of
“Fiscal Consolidation with inclusive growth,” Education, Defence and
Police were allocated the highest share of N1.095trn. A breakdown of the
N1.095trn shows the Education sector getting N426.53bn; Defence,
N348.91bn, and Police, N319.65bn. Missing
copiously from the budget was a provision for fuel subsidy, an
indication perhaps that government may fully remove the subsidy in 2013
In regards to Agriculture, the president in his speech said his Administration has instituted key policy reforms to establish staple crop processing zones aimed at attracting the private sector into areas of high production, reducing post-harvest losses, and adding value to locally produced commodities. So far we have succeeded in attracting $7.8 billion investment commitments to the agricultural sector. These investments and the value chain approach being used to transform the sector have the capacity to create 3.5 million additional jobs in the medium term by 2015.
More so, the provision of affordable housing is one of the Administration’s strategic imperatives for guaranteeing our citizens’ productivity and well-being. We are creating an enabling environment for the private sector to produce much needed housing, whilst creating jobs in the process. To facilitate this, I will be holding a presidential retreat on Housing in early November, to discuss policy and modalities for dealing with land titling issues, developing an affordable mortgage finance system and reducing the high cost of housing construction, he said.
While
presenting the budget, Jonathan
stuck to his original proposal of $75 per barrel of crude and rejected
the $80 recommended by the House as the “realistic” crude oil benchmark
for the 2013 budget Observers believe that the development might set off
a fresh budget dispute between the National Assembly and the Executive.
The N4.92trn proposed for 2013 is five per cent more than the N4.7trn
budgeted in 2012.
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