PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has signed the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget, recently passed by the National Assembly, into law.
Tinubu assented to the supplementary appropriation bill at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday, November 8, with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, in attendance.
Others at the brief event include the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji.
The supplementary budget, reviewed and approved by both chambers of the National Assembly, aims to finance projects related to National Defence and Security and those in the offices of the President and the First Lady.
On Tuesday, November 2, The ICIR reported that the Senate passed the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary appropriation bill amid controversies surrounding its allocations.
The passage followed the adoption of the report of the harmonised sittings of the Senate and House of Representatives on the bill as submitted by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Solomon Adeola.
Adeola had presented the committee’s report, which was adopted and debated before lAkpabio put it to voice vote, and senators across party lines voted in favour.
The supplementary appropriation bill successfully underwent the first and second readings in both chambers of the National Assembly during the legislative session on Tuesday, October 31.
The lawmakers, while passing the bill, identified the need to enhance the critical needs of the people and subsequently referred it to the Committee of Supply for consideration.
Although there were sections of the budget breakdown that Nigerians labelled as ‘misappropriation of funds,’ the House of Representatives said it had only scrapped the N5 billion appropriated in the budget for a presidential yacht.
Addressing journalists after the Senate passed the budget, the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi, explained that the lawmakers considered public interest in scrapping the provision for the yacht and transferring the sum to add to the 5.5 billion naira student loan.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M