The Senate has approved 6.2 trillion naira amendment to the 2024 appropriation act, raising the 2024 budget from 28.7 trillion naira to 35.055 trillion naira.
The amendment for capital and recurrent expenditures made provisions for key infrastructure projects omitted in the 2024 appropriation act and the recently approved national minimum wage.
President Tinubu had last Wednesday, requested the Senate to amend the 2024 Appropriation Act, and the 2023 Finance Act by increasing the budget with ₦6.2tn
The request was contained in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and read at plenary on Wednesday.
The president in the letter, said the move was under Section 58, sub-section two of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
“I forward herewith the above bills for consideration and passage by the Senate.
“The Appropriation Act Amendment Bill 2024 seeks to amend the principal Act to provide the sum of ₦3.2 trillion for Renewed Hope infrastructure projects and other critical infrastructure projects to be undertaken across the country.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Atiku Bagudu had explained that the supplementary budget will be used to pay the newly approved minimum wage.
Bagudu gave the explanation while addressing a House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation in Abuja.
He said that the funds would be spent on stimulating the economy through the implementation of various infrastructural projects.
These projects, he said, include road, rail, water, irrigation, and dam projects in the 2024 fiscal year with prudent utilisation of the funds.
He disclosed that N3 trillion would cater for the new national minimum wage, which has been passed into law by the Senate.
Bagudu said that the budget amendment was also aimed at providing counterpart funding for rail projects that had literally stopped for a while, including the longest among them.
These, according to him, are the Port Harcourt Main Bridge, which would traverse the rivers Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and other parts of the country.
The minister said the second project is Badagry-Tin Can Port, Lekki Port, while the third one is Lagos-IIbadan Standard Gauge, adding that the fourth one is Kano-Marada Standard Gauge.
He said that there would be funding for rolling stock that is required, adding that this would gulp the sum of N530 billion as requested for the five rail projects.
Bagudu said that the sum of N522 billion was also provided for water, irrigation, and dam projects, adding that the proposed N3.2 trillion renewed hope infrastructural fund was “intended to provide equity contributions.
Bagudu assured that the projects encapsulated in the amendment to the 2024 Appropriation Bill would not limit the revenue available for the implementation of the 2024 Appropriation Act.
