FG Will Present N6.8trn As 2017 Budget, Says Finance Minister

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has said that the Federal
Government will present N6,866,335,052,740 as the budget for 2017.

Adeosun disclosed this on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 when members
of the Senate Committee on Finance visited her ministry.

She said the figure will be presented because the government
spends over N3 trillion on salaries, debts and pensions.

The minister said: “Salaries on their own are about
N1.8 trillion to N1.9 trillion. 

And by the time you add the Judiciary, the
National Assembly, pensions, and others, you are at N2 trillion. 

Add debt
service, which is about N1.4 trillion. So, if you want to bring down the size
of the budget, you won’t be able to do very many capital projects.

“That’s the problem, and that has been the vicious circle
that has been affecting Nigeria for so long. By the time we pay salaries, pay
debts, nothing is left.

“So, I think for the next few years, we have to take a
gamble, as a nation. 

We must take a gamble that if we fix our roads, fix power,
can we generate more than that additional cost? I think we can.”

 Adeosun lamented that
it has become impossible for the government to generate revenue from
revenue-generating agencies because of corruption, citing the Nigerian customs
as an example