President Muhammadu Buhari has presented a N7.298 trillion 2017 budget before the joint session of the National Assembly.

The presentation was made on Wednesday in Abuja with members of the Senate and House of Representatives in joint session.

President Buhari said at the ceremony that government benchmarked the 2017 budget at N305 naira against one US dollar ($1).

He said the budget is also predicated on daily crude oil production of at 2.2 million barrels and at $42 per barrel.

Buhari said that 2017 budget proposal is 20.4 per cent higher than that of the 2016 estimate.

He explained that for the country to effectively diversify from oil, it would need oil money for the movement.

Tagged Budget of Economic Recovery and Growth, he said, it was centered on agriculture and manufacturing.

He said that the budget would bring the nation out of recession.

The President said that government would continue to fortify “our defence’’ and spend on it till “all our enemies within and without are subdued.”

He said that government would retain N500 billion social intervention fund in the 2017 budget.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, received President Buhari.

The President appealed to governors to make land easily accessible to farmers to boost food production.

•Excerpted from a NAN report.

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