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ABUJA — THE Federal Executive Council, FEC, yesterday, approved the 2013 draft budget proposal with a fiscal framework of annual projected revenue of N3.891 trillion and a expenditure of N4.929 trillion.
The 2013 draft budget proposals contain a deficit of N1.038 trillion. The draft budget proposal is to be submitted to the National Assembly next month.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who addressed state House correspondents after the FEC meeting, said the budget will be ready in September, while the actual laying will be in the first week of October.
Okonjo-Iweala, flanked by the Minister of State, Finance, Yerima Ngama and Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, yesterday, said FEC’s meeting also deliberated on the presentation of medium term fiscal framework for the 2013 budget.
Although details of the draft proposals were not made available, the Finance Minister, in giving insight of what is to be expected in the 2013 budget, said the Federal Government had reduced the recurrent expenditure component of the draft budget proposal from 71.47 percent of the total budget in 2012 to 68.66 percent.
She said: “We are increasing the Capital Expenditure from 28.53 percent in 2012 to 31.34 percent in 2013.”
Okonjo-Iweala said the resources of the country would be managed prudently and transparently, while ensuring priority was given to the key growth sectors of the economy and national security.
She said: “Fundamentally, the focus of the Federal Government’s proposal on budget 2013 as reflected in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper is that the budget should make practical impact on the areas that matter most to the Nigerian people— job creation, power supply, roads, rail, other infrastructure and of course, agriculture.
“The proposals for the 2013 budget are based on a rigorous review of the performance of the global economy with regard to negative economic developments around the world which have the potential to negatively impact the country’s economy.”

ABAKALIKI – THE Federal Government, yesterday, said it was considering sending a bill to the National Assembly, which would promote and make breast feeding compulsory for all nursing mothers in the country.
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, at the grand finale of the World Breast Feeding week in Ugbodo, Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state, said that the bill, when passed into law will stipulate appropriate sanctions for defaulting mothers.
He said the bill, which was still under consideration would seek to increase the number of months for maternity leave for lactating mothers as well as encourage husbands to fulfill their obligations to their wives during the period of lactation in the family.
“I agree with you that legislation can help in the area of stipulating that an employer, whether government or private give more time for maternity leave and we are thinking along that line. Another thing is for us to have a period, when the husbands, who have wives who are lactating can have time to assist their wives because it is important.”
The men must support but often times, what happens is that as the woman is giving birth, the man decides to go elsewhere to enjoy himself.
“He doesn’t give that psychological support to the woman. So we need to support our women to do the right thing. As you know, when you have a law and people are inside their house it becomes difficult to monitor. So what we are doing is even more important than the law,” he said.
Earlier, wife of Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs Josephine Elechi, said that breast milk was the best food for the baby as it contained all the essential nutrients required for growth and development of the child.
She noted that exclusive breast feeding for the first six months of child birth had been recognised as the single most effective intervention for child survival and reduction of under-5 mortality and morbidity.