Business
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is to fund the deficit in the 2023 Nigeria’s Budget with N206.18 billion through Privatisation Proceeds, President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed.
Presenting the 2023 budget estimates totalling N20.51 trillion and tagged: Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition to the joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja on Friday, October 7, 2022, the president gave other sources of funding the deficit to include new borrowings totalling N8.80 trillion and N1.77 trillion drawdowns on bilateral/multilateral loans secured for specific development projects/programmes.
The proposed N20.51 trillion Naira 2023 expenditure comprises:
Statutory Transfers of N744.11 billion;
Non-debt Recurrent Costs of N8.27 trillion;
Personnel Costs of N4.99 trillion;
Pensions, Gratuities and Retirees’ Benefits of N854.8 billion; Overheads of N1.11 trillion; Capital Expenditure of N5.35 trillion, including the capital component of Statutory Transfers; Debt Service of N6.31 trillion; and Sinking Fund of N247.73 billion to retire certain maturing bonds.
The President said his administration had in the last seven years transformed Nigeria’s challenging power sector, through bespoke interventions such as the Siemens Power Program, with the German government under which over 2 billion US Dollars will be invested in the Transmission Grid.
He also said the administration leveraged over billions of US dollars in concessional and other funds from Nigeria’s partners at the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, JICA as well as through the Central Bank of Nigeria, working with the Finance Ministry, to support the power sector reforms.
“The Central Bank has also been impactful in its interventions to roll out over a million meters to on-grid consumers, creating much needed jobs in assembly and installation. Our financing interventions have recently been complemented with the takeover of four electricity distribution companies and the constitution of the Board of the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company”, he added.
On the generation side, he announced that his administration made significant investments in and incremental 4,000MW of power generating assets, including Zungeru Hydro, Kashimbila Hydro, Afam III Fast Power, Kudenda Kaduna Power Plant, the Okpai Phase 2 Plant, the Dangote Refinery Power Plant, and others.
“Our generation efforts are making the transition from a reliance on oil and diesel, to gas as a transitional fuel, as well as environmentally friendly solar and hydro sources. Under the Energising Education Programme, we have commissioned solar and gas power solutions at Federal Universities and Teaching Hospitals at Kano, Ebonyi, Bauchi and Delta States. Similarly, our Energising Economies Programme have taken clean, sustainable power solutions to the Sabon-Gari Market in Kano, Ariaria Market in Aba, and Sura Shopping Complex in Lagos”, he stated.
A statement by the BPE head of Corporate Communications, Mr Uzoma chidi Ibeh recalled that BPE contributed N90.73Bn through Privatisation Proceeds to the 2022 Budget deficit.