Senate moves to approve N2.17trn supplementary budget for Tinubu

Senate, on Tuesday, moved to approve the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget requested from it by President Bola Tinubu.

Specifically, the bill seeking to grant the federal government the permission to spend the amount on projects as 2023 supplementary budget has passed second reading in the Red Chamber.

Sponsored by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, the “Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2023”, it was first read on the floor on Tuesday and was immediately passed for second reading where the senators debated on the appropriation.

Senator Bamidele, while leading debate on the bill, said when the supplementary budget is approved, the fund will cater for insecurity challenges, construction of roads, coordination of the conditional cash transfer, kick off of student loans, working capital for newly created ministries and coverage of the November election.

Many senators in their contributions, supported approval of the N2.1 trillion supplementary budget.

According to the Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, “it is normal for a new government to bring forward a supplementary appropriation bill to tailor the affairs of such government in line with the policy and programme of the new government.”

“Normally, you have this kind of supplementary appropriation bill being brought to the National Assembly for approval in the first or second month of such new administration but this government decided to take its time to study its challenges and areas that need funding.

“It took time. And so it decided that the challenges that we face in the areas of insecurity, agriculture and infrastructure should be dealt with. Then it decided that this bill should be brought for approval. It is a normal practice everywhere in the world.

“There is no government that will come without re-arranging the budgeting structure, the Appropriation Act so that it gets tailored with its policies and programmes. So, this is not something new,” he stressed.

his own, the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, explained that when approved, the federal government will be able to address insecurity and other challenges facing the country.

Also Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East) said there is need to meet up with the security challenges and allocate funds to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for the conduct of the November elections.

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Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi North), however, said the student loan should reflect the interest of the people.

Also, Senator Seriake Dickson (PDP Bayelsa West) also called for proper check of federal government Ministries, Departments of Agencies, MDAs that will be involved in the supplementary appropriation.

“We need to demand accountability, not for them to be demanding for billions (of naira) only,” he said.

In his remarks, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio commended the senators for supporting approval of the supplementary appropriation bill and therefore, referred it to the Committee on Appropriations for consideration and to refer their conclusions back to the plenary as soon as possible.

The Federal Executive Council, FEC had on Monday approved the 2023 supplementary budget of N2, 176, 791, 286. 33 pending the approval of the National Assembly.

In his letter of approval request, President Tinubu explained that the supplementary budget would support the provisional wage of N35,000 to workers, costing the federal government N210 billion and N400 billion as cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians.

He also pointed out that the supplementary budget would shore up the country’s security and agricultural sectors.

Moreover, the President explained further that funds with which to prosecute the forthcoming elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo would be taken from the supplementary budget.

In a related development, President Tinubu also sent the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF and Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP ahead of the 2024 budget presentation, to the Senate for approval.

In the MTEF and FSP documents submitted, the federal government proposed $73.96 for the price of crude per barrel and an exchange rate of N700.

MTEF and FSP are documents containing the various indices, upon which the nation’s annual budget is predicated.