The Federal Executive Council ( FEC) Monday approved N2,176,791,286,033 trillion supplementary budget for 2023.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning Mr Abubakar Atiku Bagudu said this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said the N2,176,791,286,033 supplementary budget would be used to fund urgent national issues including N605 billion for security and national defence to sustain the current gains of security.
He said others include N200 billion for supply of agricultural produce, N300 billion for repairs of bridges including Eko and Third Mainland bridges and the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of many roads nationwide before the return of the rainy season.
The minister said the supplementary budget also include N210 billion 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,” he said.
He said N400 billion would be set aside for cash transfer to vulnerable and poor Nigerians for the period October and November.
“You may recall that the federal government secured $800 million 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 billion is for,” he said.
He said N100 billion would go to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while N18 billion would be used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (lNEC) for the conduct of the November 2023 governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states.
He said mN5.5 billion would be used for students’ loans while N200 billion would be for capital supplementation.
The minister said the FEC also granted approval to increase the domestic borrowing ceiling.
He said the federal government had submitted the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the National Assembly, stressing that January to December budget cycle would be maintained.
He said the budgeting process is benefiting from the experience and collaboration between the National Assembly and the executive arm of government.
Also speaking, the Minister of Works Mr Dave Umahi said the FEC approved the first phase of the proposed coastal road from Lagos state to Calabar, Cross Rivers state.
“The Ministry of Works presented a memo for approval on the Coaster roads running from Lagos to Port Harcourt to Cross River and then one of the harvest roads to Trans-Sahara route, which is running from Enugu-—Abakaliki-Ogoja down to Cameroon is Africa Trans-Sahara, another road under phase 2 also from Badagry to Sokoto.
“So, it was approved to be finance in a model of EPC + F that’s engineering, procurement, construction and then + F – Financing. And so counsel deliberated and approved and then directed the Minister of Finance to expidite action on its own part,” he said.
