FCT budget passes second reading

The budget which was sent to the Senate last week by President Umaru Yar’Adua was referred to the Committee on Federal Character.

Breakdown of the budget showed that under revenue, statutory allocation was N28 billion; Value Added Tax, (VAT) N3 bilion; excess crude, N6 billion and internally generated revenue, N10 billion.

Also for revenue projection are share from sale of assets, N10billion; sales of fertilizers, N500million; sahre of personal income taxes of Abuja, N10billion and taxes from businesses, N2billion.

For expenditure, the FCT budgeted N15.767billion for personnel and N9.72billion for overhead while capital expenditure was put at N43.449billion.

N6.8billion was budgeted for resettlement and relocation of displaced poeple of the Territory. Senators who contributed to the budget during the second reading asked the senate to consider voting more funds for power supply.