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Fri, Mar

FG To Conduct Population Census Next Year

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Following the approval of the N178.09 million in the 2022 Appropriation bill, the national population and housing census will hold next year after a 15-year hiatus. The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed said this on Friday during the public presentation and breakdown of the 2022 Budget in Abuja, saying President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to make a proclamation on the planned 2022 headcount exercise.


Ahmed noted that the recent review of the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) was conducted due to the need to provide funds for a population census, and the need to provide additional critical expenditure among other factors, adding that the last headcount in the country was carried out in 2004.


She explained that the National Population Commission (NPC) had in December 2020 announced that an estimated 206 million people lived in Nigeria, indicating an increase of eight million when compared to the 198 million announced in 2018.


Also, the minister highlighted other critical expenditures in the 2022 FGN Budget including N50 billion Police Operations Fund, N400 billion National Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy, and N37 billion additional provision for debt accruing from electricity bills of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).


She further said N517.5 billion was proposed for additional Multi-lateral/Bi-lateral project-tied loans.


Ahmed said “For the 2021 performance, between January and August, revenue generated was N3.93 trillion which was 73 per cent of the prorated target. Out of this amount, CIT and VAT collections were N547.5 billion and N235.7 billion respectively, representing 121 per cent in the case of CIT and 148 per cent in the case of VAT of the prorated target.


“On the expenditure side, N8.14 trillion representing 84 per cent of the N9.71 trillion prorated expenditure from January to August had been spent.


“This performance includes expenditure estimates of Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs), but doesn’t include project tied loans


“Of the expenditure, N2.89 trillion was utilised for debt servicing, while N2.57 trillion was utilised for personnel cost, including pension and gratuities. As at the end of August 2021, N1.75 trillion had been expended on capital projects, of this amount, N1.723 trillion represents 81 per cent of the aggregate provision for Ministries Department Agencies’ capital prorated, while N36.01 billion is expenditure from GOEs.


“So the story here is that the revenue performance aggregate is 73 per cent but the fact is that the non-oil revenue is performing very well above the target, while the oil and gas revenue are lagging.”

 

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