Nigerian Senate Passes N895.842 Billion Supplementary Budget Into Law

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, passed a supplementary budget of N895.842 billion into law.

President Buhari had proposed N895.842,465,917bn, but the Senate Committee on Appropriation, in its report presented by the Chairman, Barau Jibrin, increased the budget size to N982,729,695,343.

The breakdown showed that N123,332,174,164 is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while the sum of N859, 397,521,179 is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December 2021.

Buhari had explained that the proposed amount would be used to fund the COVID-19 vaccine programme and health-related expenditures for treatment of additional 50,000 patients under the Nigeria Comprehensive AIDS Programme in states.

He had also said that part of the money would be used to procure additional equipment captured in this year’s capital expenditure on Defence and Security to tackle prevalent security challenges across the country.

The passage followed a satisfactory report by Senator Jibrin Barau, Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation, where he explained that the supplementary budget would augment the effort of various government agencies to discharge their responsibilities.

Barau pointed out that security agencies will be able to procure arms and equipment as they strive to combat insecurity across the country

He said: “That the Senate do consider the report of the Committee on Appropriation on the supplementary Appropriation bill, 2021.”

After the report, Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan during the Committee of the whole considered clause by clause and passed the Bill.

In his remarks, Lawan enjoined government agencies to utilise the funds for the purpose for which it was allocated, while he expressed optimism that the story of insecurity would change given that enough money has been appropriated for it.