Senate defends the swift approval of the N2.17trn supplementary budget

Senator Ali Ndume, the Senate Chief Whip and Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, has defended the swift passage of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriations Bill by both chambers of parliament in less than 48 hours.

The N2.17 trillion Supplementary Budget was filed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday, and the Senate and House of Representatives changed their procedures to allow for the bill’s first and second readings.

Ndume told reporters that the budget was adopted by the parliament in 48 hours because it was in the best interests of the country.

He declared, “Since the gasoline subsidy was removed, the nation has seen hikes in the price of food, fuel, and other necessities.

As a result, there were numerous strikes by workers, and the Federal Government and organised labour organisations held discussions.

The Federal Government and Labour came to an agreement at the conclusion of the negotiations that workers would receive N35,000 on top of their minimum wage.

“The amount is enormous if N35,000 is given to each of the more than 1.5 million workers. The funds were included in the supplemental spending plan.

The Federal Government came up with the brilliant idea of lending money to students in tertiary institutions in response to agitations among parents of students there after tuition fees increased. As a result, N5.5 billion was allocated in the supplemental budget for that purpose as well. After discussing it, the National Assembly’s two houses decided to raise the budget to N10 billion.

This is due to the argument made by our House of Representatives members that the N5 billion that was set aside for the purchase of the presidential boat was not currently required. We increased the N5 billion initially allocated for student loans to N10 billion by adding the Yacht money.

“Prior to the public uproar, we had already taken action and taken the N5 billion allocated for the presidential yacht out of the budget.

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“The claim that the Senate remained mute about the N5 billion granted for the yacht is untrue. Prior to the joint appropriations committees of both houses preparing and presenting their reports, we had synchronised with the House of Representatives. The two chairmen signed it as well.

“The only issue was that the Navy begged us to set aside the yacht and gave them the N5 billion so they could improve their operations, particularly in the Niger Delta where they are fighting oil bunkering and crude theft. We told them right away to use their operational funds for that purpose.

Additionally, N8 billion has been set aside for the launch of the new ministries established by the administration of President Bola Tinubu. It is critical that they implement specific measures before they can begin to work.

In order to ensure food security, a certain sum of money was also given to the Ministry of Agriculture to be used for the purchase of grains as a stopgap measure to persuade farmers to switch to dry season farming.

Apart from this, the Senate reasoned that they needed access to the money for the proper conduct of the polls because the Independent National Electoral Commission is holding off-cycle elections in the states of Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi on November 11 and N18 billion was allocated for that purpose in the supplemental budget.

The N20 billion was set aside specifically for the Nigeria Police Force, which is expected to oversee the election and will require more staff.

In order to pay the duty allowance to its soldiers who are now serving in every state in the federation, the Nigerian Army will also require more funding. A minimum of N5,000 is paid to each of them every day. It is by no means a tiny sum of money.

The housing sector received N100 billion in the budget, which is another item. The government believes that it will address the issue of housing shortages in the majority of the nation’s metropolitan cities.

“The Federal Ministry of Works has been allotted N300 billion as well. Making the current roads motorable was the goal, not building new ones. Now that the dry season has begun, this is the perfect time to do it.

“We make sure that every geopolitical zone in the nation receives N8 billion to fix roads in their areas, and there is no single provision for the National Assembly.”

“N28 billion was set out for the State House. The presidential fleet’s assigned money were used to maintain the aircraft that are maintained overseas using US currency. Bola Tinubu, the president, did not purchase any aircraft. All of the aeroplanes are his inheritance, and he is required to maintain them; otherwise, the aircraft would all be grounded.

As members of the country’s parliament, we posed questions, and we were happy with the responses we received.