FG to spend N3.3 billion on Obasanjo, Jonathan and others

In 2023, the Federal Government would spend a total of N3.3 billion on former leaders of the federal government’s departments, ministries, and agencies.

The nation would spend N1 billion on severance compensation for retired heads of parastatals and government agencies, compared to N2.3 billion for former presidents, heads of state, and vice presidents’ payouts.

Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, as well as Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Yakubu Gowon, who were all military heads of state, and Atiku Abubakar and Namadi Sambo, who were both vice presidents, will be among the winners.

This is written in the 2023 Appropriations Bill from the National Assembly, which raised the total budget from the proposed N20,507,942,180,704 to N21,827,188,747,391, a difference of N1,319,246,566,687.

The president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret. ), will deliver his final budget in 2023, and the 9th National Assembly will vote on it last.

The Federal Government also recommended increasing the wages of university teachers by N470 billion in order to revitalise tertiary institutions.

But the National Assembly did not include the N170 billion that was suggested to raise the salaries of university professors in the N300 billion that was approved to improve the universities.

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President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret. ), in his speech to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 7, 2022, suggested a N470 billion intervention fund to end the long-running dispute between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

The budget included N10 billion for the reorganisation and recapitalization of the Nigerian Postal Service and N1.92 billion for a “special intervention fund for the construction of a storage facility in Benin to house repatriation antiques.”

The National Judicial Council, which is in charge of the judicial branch of the Federal Government, has been given a budget of N165 billion. Under statutory transfers, the National Assembly and its related bodies will each spend a total of N194,839,144,401.

Although N169 billion was recommended for the federal bi-cameral legislature in the original draught, N150 billion was proposed for the judiciary, which is N30 billion more than was allotted in 2022.