N6.46 trillion of the approved N21.83 trillion 2023 budget is split amongst 10 ministries. This means that these ministries got 29.6 per cent of the total budget.
Overall, the approved N21.83 trillion split across the various ministries in the country represents a 26.04 per cent increase over the N17.32 trillion budget approved for 2022.
The 2023 approved expenditure is to be funded from revenue of 10.5 trillion. The benchmark price of crude oil at $75 per barrel and the projected production capacity of 1.69 million barrels per day serve as the fundamental assumptions for revenue in the 2023 budget.
READ ALSO: Nigeria to spend 76 per cent of revenue on debt servicing by 2025, how sustainable is this?
Despite the calls of civil society organisations for the government to honour the Abuja Declaration of 2001 that proposes that governments across the continent should earmark 15 per cent of their budgets to healthcare and 10 per cent of their budget to agriculture, according to the Mapoto Declaration, the Nigerian government budgeted lesser proportions to these two critical sectors in the budget.
Dataphyte’s sectoral analysis of the 2023 budget reveals the top 10 ministries with the highest allocation in the approved budget received 29.6 per cent of the entire budget. They shared N6.46 trillion of the entire allocation amongst themselves.
The Ministry of Defence received the highest allocation with N1.38 trillion, which is made up of 79.4% of recurrent expenditure and 20.6% of capital expenditure. Their allocation took up 6.3 per cent of the total expenditure of the 2023 budget.
The Federal Ministry of Education got a N1.07 trillion allocation for the 2023 fiscal year, of which 71.3% is allocated to recurrent expenditure, and 28.7% is allocated to capital expenditure. This made the ministry the second, receiving 4.93 per cent of the budget allocation.
The Federal Ministry of Health got N1.07 trillion as allocation for the year. This amount is 4.93 per cent of the total allocation. The health budget comprised 58.6% of recurrent expenditure and 41.4% of capital expenditure. This amount is 10.1 per cent less than the 15 per cent recommendation by the Abuja Declaration 2001.
The Federal Ministry of Police Affairs, got N838.05 billion, which represents 92.8% of recurrent expenses and 7.2% of capital expenses. This means the ministry received 3.84 per cent of the total allocation in fourth place.
The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing will provide road and other infrastructures with a sum of N534.45 billion in 2023, comprising 6.6% of recurrent expenditure and 93.5% of capital expenditure. By this, the ministry got 2.45 per cent of the total budget approved for the year.
Similar to the health sector, the agriculture sector received 1.96 per cent of the total allocation. This is less than the 10 per cent recommended by the Mapoto Declaration. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture got N426.98 billion as allocation for the 2023 fiscal year, with capital expenses accounting for 80% of the total allocation and recurring expenses for 20%.
Receiving N382.35 billion, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management got 1.75 per cent in seventh place. The ministry’s allocation comprises 17.6% of recurrent expenses and 82.4% of capital expenditure.
In eighth place is the Federal Ministry of Power which got an allocation of N258.49 billion which is broken down to 2.7% recurrent expense and a 97.3% capital expense. The budget made up 1.18 per cent of the total expenditure.
The office of the National Security Adviser got N242.93 billion as its allocation, comprising 71.1% of recurrent expenditure and 28.9% of capital expenditure. This represents 1.113 per cent of the entire 2023 allocation.
The Federal Ministry of Water Resources received 1.11 per cent of the 2023 allocation, ranking the ministry as the tenth with the highest budgetary allocation. The ministry received 242.2 billion, of which 95.3% went to capital expenditures and 4.5% to recurrent expenses.
The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning received 46.4 per cent. The ministry got this much because it is saddled with the responsibility of managing the nation’s debt. Thus, the amount for debt servicing makes up part of the ministry’s budget.
The remaining 32 ministries were allocated less than 1 per cent of the budget each. Collectively, the allocations to the 32 ministries added up to 24 per cent of the entire budget.