Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun on Tuesday said the Federal Government will present N6,866,335,052,740 as budget for 2017.

She said this during a visit by members of the Senate Committee of Finance to her ministry.

Adeosun said the figure will be presented because the government spends N3trn on salaries, debts and pensions.

Adeosun also lamented that corruption has made it impossible for the government to generate revenue from revenue-generating agencies such as the Nigerian customs.

She said: “Salaries on their own are about N1.8 trillion to N1.9 trillion. And by the time you add the Judiciary, the National Assembly, pensions, and others, you are at N2 trillion. Add debt service, which is about N1.4 trillion. So, if you want to bring down the size of the budget, you won’t be able to do very many capital projects.

“That’s the problem, and that has been the vicious circle that has been affecting Nigeria for so long. By the time we pay salaries, pay debts, nothing is left. So, I think for the next few years, we have to take a gamble, as a nation. We must take a gamble that if we fix our roads, fix power, can we generate more than that additional cost? I think we can.”

Azeez