FG Approves N2.1 Trillion Supplementary Budget

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Monday, approved the sum of N2.1 trillion as supplementary budget for the year 2023.

Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting of the council in Abuja.

President Bola Tinubu presided over the meeting.

Recall that the FEC had earlier proposed a budget of N26 trillion for the year 2024, which is scheduled to be presented to the National Assembly by December 31.

Here him:“The council considered a request for supplementary appropriation which is a second for 2023. “And graciously approved the sum of N2,176,791,286,033, as supplementary budget and this supplementary budget is to fund urgent issues including N605 billion for national defence and security. ”This is to sustain the gains made in security and to accelerate and these are funds that are needed by the security agencies before the year runs out,” Bagudu said.

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The minister said the sum of N100 billion was provided in the budget to support the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to enable it to execute urgent capital works.

Mr Bagudu stated that N5.5 billion was approved for the take-off of the Students Loan Board while another N8 billion was set aside for the take-off of the newly established ministries.

He added that N18 billion was allocated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise the 11 November off-cycle governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo states.

The minister said the executive will forward the budget to the National Assembly for approval without delay. This, according to him, is with a view to addressing the urgent needs of the government, especially the payment of wages.