The Senate has referred to its Committee on Niger Delta Affairs for screening, the confirmation of the appointment of Lauretta Onochie as the substantive Chairperson, Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The Nigerian Senate has passed the Niger-Delta Development Commission NDDC budget of N453.200billion for 2020.
The passage of the budget is sequel to the presentation of the report by the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs during plenary Monday, at the special session held in the Senate.
The report presented by Gombe South Senator, Amos Bulus, on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Peter Nwaboshi, among other things recommends the extension of the implementation of the NDDC budget to elapse in 31 March, 2021 to ensure adequate utilization of the financial releases.
On the NDDC budget for 2020, Bayelsa West senator, Seriake Dickson hailed the Senate for doing away with the controversial Interim Management Committee IMC, but expressed concerns that instead of a substantive Board for the Commission, what now exists is a sole administrator.
Nigeria: National Assembly Raises 2021 Budget By N580bn, Approves N13 588trn allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale
The two chambers of the National Assembly yesterday passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill, increasing the budget size from N13.08 trillion presented to them by President Muhamnadu Buhari 11 weeks ago to N13.588 trillion.
The passage of the 2021 budget followed consideration and adoption of harmonised reports separately submitted to them by their Committees on Appropriation.
The two chambers increased the 2021 budget by about N580 billion and pegged daily crude oil production at 1.86 million barrels per day, while oil benchmark price was fixed at $40 per barrel.
They approved N379 to dollar as the official exchange rate while GDP growth rate was pegged at 3 per cent.