Senate has passed the sum of N4, 877, 209, 156, 933 for the 2012 budget at the plenary on Thursday.

The 2012 Appropriation Act was increased from the original N4.6 trillion sent to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan in December 2011, to accommodate the SURE program while the sum of N888 billion was appropriated for fuel subsidy.

The initial budget had no provision for fuel subsidy following the removal of the subsidy on January 1. But days of widespread protests and industrial action called by the labour union, made the federal government return a partial sum for the fuel subsidy.

The chairman Senate committee on Appropriation, Senator Ahmad Maccido, told journalists that the budget for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) was included in the budget while that of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) budget was left out in the 2012 budget.

Jonathan during the presentation of the 2012 budget presentation, Tuesday December 12, 2011 in Abuja.

According to the Senate spokesman, Senator Enyinaya Abaribe, “the CBN governor is hiding under the CBN act but the Fiscal Responsibility Act stipulates that budgets from all government agencies should be scrutinized by the national assembly.”

He noted that the problem with the CBN budget is a legal matter which the National Assembly would take up.