The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Monday, approved the sum of N2.1 trillion as supplementary budget for the year 2023.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting of the council in Abuja.
President Bola Tinubu presided over the meeting.
According to Mr Bagudu, the main items in the supplementary budget are issues of security and the payment of wages to workers in the public sector.
“Today, the council considered a request for supplementary appropriation, which is the second for 2023 and graciously approved the sum of N2, 176, 791, 286. 33 as supplementary budget and this is to fund urgent issues including N605 billion for national defence and security to sustain the gains made in security, as these are funds needed by the military and other security agencies for the year 2023.
“Equally, the sum of N300 billion 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 N200 billion was provided for seed and agricultural input supplies as well as agricultural implements and infrastructure in order to support the expansion of food production.
“The sum of N210 billion is also provided for in the supplementary budget for the payment of wage award to workers. While negotiating with the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Nigerian government agreed to pay N35, 000 each to about 1.5 million employees and that amount for September, October, November and December, 2023 is what has been captured in the supplementary budget,” he said.
Mr Bagudu said the component of the wage award for the year 2024 was captured in the budget.
He also said N400 billion was provided for in the auxiliary budget for cash transfer payment.
“You may recall that the Nigerian government secured a $800 million loan from the World Bank to pay cash transfers of N25, 000 each to 15 million households. The $800 million is for two months of October and November, 2023 and the President has graciously approved that an additional month be funded by the government and that is what this N400 billion is for,” he said.
The minister said the sum of N100 billion was provided in the budget to support the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to enable it to execute urgent capital works.
Mr Bagudu stated that N5.5 billion was approved for the take-off of the Students Loan Board while another N8 billion was set aside for the take-off of the newly established ministries.
He added that N18 billion was allocated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise the 11 November off-cycle governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo states.
The minister said the executive will forward the budget to the National Assembly for approval without delay. This, according to him, is with a view to addressing the urgent needs of the government, especially the payment of wages.
