Indeed, Naira devaluation is probably the most potent weapon against the prosperity of Nigerians. Nigeria’s migration from a potential industrial power house with bustling social affluence, to a subdued and stumbling economy clearly began with the adoption of IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme during Babangida’s regime: the chorus from International Agencies, at that time, was also that falling oil prices with an unserviced debt burden and the consequent restriction of trade credit to Nigeria, were the products of an allegedly overvalued Naira exchange rate.
By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor
The Federal Government has retained major revenue assumptions in the reworked budget signed into law this morning by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In the 2016 Appropriation Bill assented to by the President, the key revenue assumptions proposed by the Executive was retained by the National Assembly.
These include the benchmark oil price of $38 per barrel, oil production volume of 2.2mbpd and exchange rate of N197/US$.
A statement from the Office of the Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udoma indicated that the Presidency was pleased with the retention of the benchmarks by the lawmakers, who worked on the budget.
The statement, which was signed by the Minister’s Media Adviser, Mr. James Akpandem, indicated that the aggregate budget of N6.06 trillion was passed by the National Assembly and given assent by the President.
It will be recalled that the Executive had proposed N6.077, indicating a decrease of about N17 billion. This implies a reduction in the fiscal deficit from 2.16% of GDP to 2.14% of GDP.
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