Abuja, Oct. 30, 2023 – The Federal Executive Council has approved N2.18 trillion supplementary budget for 2023.
The supplementary budget is to cover additional spending on defence, works and welfare packages such as wage awards and conditional cash transfers.
Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar, announced this to State House Correspondent at the end the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Monday.
Bagudu said N605 billon of the supplementary budget had been earmarked for national security to sustain the gains made in security and these are funds that would be needed by the security agencies before the year ran out.
“Equally a 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 N210 billon was 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.
“Also, N400 billion as cash transfer payments. You may recall that the Federal Government secured a $800m loan from the World Bank to pay cash transfers of N25,000 to 15 million households.
“The $800 million is for two months, October and November. The President graciously approved that an additional month should be funded by the federal government and that is what this N100 billon is for.”
“The council also approved N200 billion for agricultural input, supplies and agricultural implements and infrastructure to support the expansion of production, while N100 billon was okayed for the Federal Capital Territory for urgent and immediate capital expenditure infrastructure works.
“Equally, N18 billon was provided for the Independent National Electoral Commission for the conduct of the Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo elections; N5.5 billion for the funding of the take-off of the student loans board which begins loan disbursement in January 2024.
“The supplementary budget also includes N8 billion for the take-off grant of new ministries and N200 billion for capital supplementation to deal with urgent requests made to the President from various parts of the country. (GBN)
