The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Monday approved N2,176,791,286,033 supplementary budget to fund urgent national issues including N605 billion for national defence and security.
Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to State House Correspondents following the FEC meeting in Abuja.
“A request for a second supplemental appropriation, for 2023, was reviewed by the council.
“And kindly approved the supplementary budget of N2,176,791,286,033, which is intended to cover N605 billion for national security and defense among other pressing issues.
“This is to accelerate and maintain the security gains that have been made, and the security agencies require these funds before the year ends.”
Additionally, Bagudu stated that the FEC had approved N300 billion for the construction, rehabilitation, and upkeep of numerous roads across the country prior to the start of the rainy season, as well as the repair of the Third Mainland and Eko bridges.
In a similar vein, he stated that the council had approved N200 billion for the provision of infrastructure, supplies, agricultural inputs, seeds, and tools to enable production growth.
N210 billion is also allocated for the payment of wage awards. in discussions with the Labour Congress of Nigeria.
About 1.5 million federal employees will receive N35,000 each from the federal government in the months of September, October, November, and December.
“And that comes out to roughly N210 billion in approved funds as well as N400 billion in cash transfers.”
He recalled that in order to provide cash transfers of N25,000 to 15 million households, the federal government had obtained an 800 million dollar loan from the World Bank.
The eight hundred million dollars, he claims, are for October and November.
The President graciously agreed that the federal government should provide funding for an extra month, which is what this N100 billion is intended for.
Similarly, N100 billion has been allocated to the Federal Capital Territory to help with urgent and immediate capital projects that can improve the city’s infrastructure.
Additionally, N18 billion was given to the Independent National Electoral Commission to help them with the elections in the states of Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa.
According to the minister, N8 billion would be given for the launch grant of new ministries, and N5.5 billion would be used to finance the takeover of the Student Loan Board.
“An additional N200 billion was given as capital supplementation to address the pressing requests that President Bola Tinubu had received from across the nation.”
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