The lower chamber of the National Assembly has suspended the debate on the general principles of the 2019 appropriation bill, despite being listed as the first order of the day on the order paper.

However, the late arrival of the copies of order papers to rep members made the debate to be suspended.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in December 2018 proposed a budget of N8.83 trillion for 2019 at a joint session of the National Assembly.

The proposed budget shows that about a quarter of the sum (N2.14 trillion) will be used for debt servicing while capital expenditure is expected to gulp N2.031 trillion.

Further breakdown presented by the president shows that proposed recurrent expenditure is N4.04 trillion, statutory transfer is N492.36 billion, there is a sinking fund of N120 billion, while capital expenditure is N2.031 trillion.