Budget 2022: Lawan decries high level of deficit

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has decried the level of deficit of the 2022 Budget.

He made this known at the presentation of the 2022 Budget estimates by President Muhammadu Buhari to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday.

The deficit in the 2022 Budget stands at N 6.26 trillion.

Lawan, who noted that the level of budget deficit is high, said both the legislature and the executive should work to reduce the deficit through the availability of more revenues.

“Generating and collecting revenues have remain major challenges in our quest for development.

“The recent efforts by the National Assembly as well as the executive to challenge the revenue generating agencies is a step in the right direction.

“Equally important is the recent position taken by the Legislature and the Executive to insist on zero allocation for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that fail to remit/upload their revenues for the 2022 Appropriation.

“This saw an increase in the contribution of the MDAs by over N400 billion. It is my view that MDAs can contribute to the Federation Account much more than that.

“This policy should be expanded and deepen to cover more MDAs,” Lawan said.

On borrowings, the senate president said: “We understand that due to paucity of revenue, the Federal Government has to resort to raising funds from foreign and domestic sources to provide infrastructure across the country.

“That is why, the National Assembly approved the requests for borrowing.

“The commitment of the Federal Government in providing infrastructure across the country means that the funds must be raised one way or the other.

“Government should also explore other sources of funding its projects in order to reduce borrowing.”

On security, Lawan said that the security of lives and property of Nigerians was still a challenge.

President Muhammadu Buhari earlier today presented the 2022 Appropriation Bill of N16.39 trillion to the National Assembly.

Addressing the joint session of the NASS on Thursday in Abuja, the president described the 2022 Appropriation as Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability.