By Egena Sunday Ode
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a supplementary budget of N2.17 trillion to be sent to the National Assembly for legislation inputs. It is the second for this year.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu disclosed this to newsmen on Monday while briefing them on the outcome of the weekly FEC meeting.
Of the proposed amount, N605 billion would be expended on national defence and security, while about N300bn would be spent on maintenance of bridges and roads, according to the minister.
Bagudu also disclosed that N210 billion would go for the payment of wage award to civil servants and N400 billion for cash transfer to vulnerable households.
Recall that follwowing threats of strike by the organised labour, the Federal Government was made to sign an agreement to provide some palliatives in order to cushion the harsh effects of the petrol subsidy removal.
The Minister also announced that N100 billion provision was made in the budget proposals as infrastructure support for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and another N18 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the off season governnorshop elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states.
Also, a provision of N8 billion is included in the supplementary budget for the take of the newly created ministeries such as Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, according to Bagudu.
He further explained that the Supplementary spending would be based improved earning of government, saying, however, any borrowing to fund the budget where necessary woukd exclude ways and means.
He said: “The council considered a request for supplementary appropriation which is a second for 2023 and graciously approved the sum of N2,176,791,286,033 as supplementary budget and this supplementary budget is to fund urgent issues including
N605 billion for national defense and security. This is to sustain the gains made in security and to accelerate and these are funds that are needed by the security agencies before the year runs out.
“Equally a sum of N300bn was provided to repair bridges including Eko and Third Mainland bridges as well as construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of many roads nationwide before the return of the rainy season.
“Equally the sum of N200bn was provisioned for seed, agricultural input, supplies and agricultural implements and infrastructure in order to support expansion of production. Equally the sum of N210bn is provided for the payment of wage Awards. In negotiation with the Nigeria Labour Congress, the federal government agreed to pay N35,000 each to about 1.5 million employees of the federal government and that amounts from September, October, November and December 2023. And that amounts to about N210bn which has been approved and also N400bn as cash transfer payments. You may recall that the federal government secured $800m loan from the World Bank to pay cash transfers of N25,000 to 15 million households.
“The $800 million is for two months, October and November. The President graciously approved that an additional month should be funded by the federal government and that is what this N100bn is for.
“Equally, N100bn has been provided for the Federal Capital Territory in order to support them in urgent and immediate capital expenditure works that can enhance the infrastructure in the city.
“Equally N18bn was provided for the Independent National Electoral Commission to support them in the conduct in the Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo elections.
“Yes, some N5.5bn naira was provided for the funding of the takeover of the student loans board as well as N8bn for the take-off grant of new ministries. Equally as sum of N200bn was provided as capital supplementation to deal with urgent requests that have been made to mr. president from various parts of the country.”
