By our Reporter
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N2.1 trillion Supplementary Budget for the year 2023, the second this year.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this to journalists on Monday, October 30, after the week’s council meeting, which was presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
He explained that out of proposed amount, N605 billion would be expended on national defence and security, while about N300 billion would be spent on maintenance of bridges.
Bagudu also disclosed that N210 billion would go for the payment of wage award to civil servants and N400 billion for cash transfer to vulnerable households.
The Minister also announced that N100 billion provision was made in the budget proposals as infrastructure support for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and another N800 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the off season governnorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states.
Another provision of N8 billion was included in the supplementary budget for the take-off of the newly created ministeries such as Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, according to Bagudu.
He said: “The council considered a request for supplementary appropriation which is a second for 2023 and guide graciously approve 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 defense 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. Equally as sum of N300bn was provided to repair bridges including Eko and Third Mainland bridges as well as construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of many roads nationwide before the return of the rainy season.
“Equally the sum of N200bn was provisioned for seed, agricultural input, supplies and agricultural implements and infrastructure in order to support expansion of production. Equally the sum of N210bn is provided for the payment of wage Awards. In negotiation with the Nigeria Labour Congress, the federal government agreed to pay N35,000 each to about 1.5 million employees of the federal government and that amounts from September, October, November and December 2023 and that amounts to about N210bn which has been approved and also N400bn as cash transfer payments.