•Atiku Bagudu
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N2,176,791,286,033 for the second 2023 supplementary appropriation.
Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, announced this today while briefing State House reporters after the federal cabinet meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, reports Daily Trust.
He said the draft supplementary budget to be sent to National Assembly for approval would be used to finance urgent issues including N605 billion for national defense and security.
According to him, “This is to sustain the gains made in security and these are funds that are needed by the security agencies before the year runs out.”
Bagudu said the sum of N300bn was also 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.
He added that the sum of N200bn was provisioned for seed, agricultural input, supplies, agricultural implements and infrastructure in order to support expansion of production.
The minister said the sum of N210 billion was equally provided for the payment of six months’ provisional wage award as agreed during the negotiation with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC).
He recalled that the federal government agreed to pay N35,000 each to about 1.5 million employees of the federal government.
According to him, the payment would cover September, October, November and December 2023.
Bagudu said N400bn was also approved 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,” he added.
The minister said N100bn had also been provided for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in order to support urgent and immediate capital expenditure works that could enhance the infrastructure in the city.
