The National Assembly’s quick 48-hour passage of the 2023 Supplementary Budget has been supported by Senate Chief Whip Senator Ali Ndume.
Remember that the Senate and House of Representatives changed their rules to approve the Appropriations Bill on Thursday after President Bola Tinubu submitted the N2.17 trillion Supplementary Budget on Tuesday.
Ndume, the Senate Committee on Appropriations’ vice chairman, told reporters in Abuja on Saturday that the budget was cleared and passed by the National Assembly in less than 48 hours for the benefit of the country
The Borno member claimed that in order to finance the launch of the new ministries established by the administration of President Bola Tinubu, the budget was swiftly approved.
Ndume continued, saying that in order to encourage farmers to practice dry-season cultivation and ensure food security, the Ministry of Agriculture needs money intended for the purchase of grains as palliatives
According to Ndume, the Senate and the House of Representatives Joint Appropriations Committee decided to move the N5 billion allocated for the boat to the student loan budget, therefore the Senate was not silent on the matter.
He said, “The increases of prices of fuel, costs of essential services and food items have gone up in the country following the withdrawal of fuel subsidy.
“Workers embarked on strike many times as a result of this, and there were negotiations between the organised labour unions and the Federal Government.
“At the end of the negotiations, the Labour and the Federal Government agreed that workers would be paid N35,000 in addition to their minimum wage.
“If N35,000 is paid to each of the over 1.5 million workers, the amount is huge. The money was captured in the supplementary budget.
“There were also agitations among parents of students in tertiary institutions following the increment in the tuition fees, and the Federal Government came up with a wonderful idea of giving loans to students in tertiary institutions hence provision of N5.5 billion was made in the supplementary budget for that purpose also. The two chambers of the National Assembly met on it, and we both agreed to jerk it up to N10bn.
“This is because our members from the House of Representatives argue that the provision of N5bn made for the procurement of the presidential yacht was not necessary at the moment. It was the Yacht money that we added to the initial N5bn provided for student loans which jerked it up to N10bn.”
He added: “We had already acted on the N5bn provided for the presidential yacht and removed it from the budget before the public outcry.
“It is not true that the Senate was silent on the N5bn provided for the yacht. We had harmonised with the House of Representatives before the joint appropriation committee of both chambers prepared and presented their reports. It was even signed by the two chairmen.
“The only thing was that the Navy asked us to forget about the yacht and pleaded with us to allow them to have the N5bn so as to enhance their operations, especially in the areas of fighting oil bunkering and crude theft in the Niger Delta and we immediately told them to utilise their operational funds for that purpose.
“There is also the provision of N8bn for the takeoff of the new ministries that were created by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration. It is very important for them to get certain things put on the ground to start working.
“A particular amount of money was also provided in the Ministry of Agriculture, which was meant for the purchase of grains as palliatives to encourage farmers to engage in dry season farming so as to guarantee food security.”
Ndume also said the Senate quickly passed the budget to provide funds for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on November 11.
He added: “Apart from this, the Senate considered that since the Independent National Electoral Commission has its off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on November 11, and N18bn was captured for that purpose in the supplementary budget, they needed to access the funds for the proper conduct of the polls.
