The 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bill of N2.1 trillion expeditiously scaled a second reading on Tuesday in the Senate.
President Bola Tinubu had written the Senate, seeking the approval of the sum of N2,176,791,286,033 as a 2023 supplementary budget to address labour wage adjustments, security, and other urgent issues.
The President also sent the 2024–2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) to the Senate for consideration.
NAN reports that on Monday, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the 2023 supplementary budget of N2.1 trillion.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, the Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, said: “Permit me to move a motion for the suspension of our Rule 78 (1) in order to read the bill a second time.”
Bamidele said that the bill sought to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, the sum of N2,176,791,286,033, of which N18 billion only is for statutory transfers.
“The 2023 budget is needed to fund urgent issues, including those related to capital expenditure on defence and security, in order to tackle the prevailing security situation,” he said.
He further explained that the supplementary appropriation bill would make provision for N210 billion for payments of wage awards in the negotiation with Labour, which the federal government agreed to, in order to pay N35,000 to about 1.5 million federal civil servants.
Bamidele said the supplementary budget also made provision for N18 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to facilitate the conduct of the Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi elections, which are scheduled to be held in November.
He also stated that N5.5 billion was provided for the funding of the takeoff of the student loan scheme, as well as N1 billion for the takeoff grants of new ministries, while N200 billion was earmarked for capital supplementation to deal with urgent requests
