President Muhammadu Buhari caused laughter at the budget presentation on Thursday when he cleared his throat thrice before announcing that N128 billion was being allocated to the national assembly in the 2021 budget.
Presenting the 2021 Appropriation Bill to the joint sitting of the lawmakers, the president admitted that the federal government was spending more on recurrent expenditure.
Buhari noted that the personnel cost is still the largest component of budget expenditure and blamed the development on ghost workers and unauthorised allowances introduced by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
He, therefore, directed the heads of ministries, departments and agencies to get approval before any recruitment.
Earlier in his remarks, the senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan, said the national assembly would pass the 2021 Appropriation Bill before the end of 2020.
He recalled how the parliament promised to pass the 2020 budget before the year ended, which was achieved.
“The National Assembly is ready to pass the 2021 budget before the end of the year, by the grace of God,” Lawan said.
