… as he signs N982.7bn 2021 Supplementary budget
Olusola Bello
President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday, in Abuja signed a supplementary budget of N982,729,695,343 into law.
This was disclosed by Umar El-Yakub, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters,to State House correspondents after a meeting with the President on Monday in Abuja,
The President signed the Supplementary Appropriation Act, 2021 in his office at the State House in the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari and Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House), Umar el-Yakub.
The 2021 Supplementary budget is to address the urgent security and COVID-19 needs of the nation.
He said: “The President has assented the Supplementary Appropriation Bill, so now it’s Supplementary Appropriation Act, since it has been assented by Mr. President. Of course, you know, the Supplementary Appropriation Bill was submitted to the National Assembly and they made an expeditious consideration of the bill and was passed and transmitted in record time and Mr. President has today assented to that bill. It will come into force from today.
With this, it is hopeful that the necessary military hard wares needed to prosecute the wars against insurgency and the purchase of the much needed medical vaccines for COVID-19 would be successfully done without hitches.
The budget is expected to be funded largely through new borrowing.
“President Buhari’s assent to the law facilitates the critical procurement of not just security equipment but the establishment of molecular laboratories, oxygen plants, and procurement of vaccines, particularly the J&J COVID-19 vaccines.”
The Supplementary Appropriation Bill passed by the lawmakers amounted to a total of N982.72 billion.
In June, President Buhari asked lawmakers in both Senate and House of Representatives to approve a 2021 Supplementary Budget estimate of N895,842,465,917 in separate letters to the leadership of both chambers.
He had explained that the budget was to fund the procurement of equipment for the military, procurement and administration of COVID-19 vaccines, and provision of additional funds for the Public Service Wage Adjustment in health and other sectors.
Thereafter, the lawmakers directed the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Appropriation to work on the President’s request.
At a joint session of the lawmakers on July 7, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jibrin Barau, as well as his counterpart in the House, Muktar Betara, submitted their reports.
The lawmakers went on to pass an increased sum of N982,729,695,343 as the approved 2021 Supplementary Budget estimate.
Of the figure, N123,332,174,164 was for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and N859,397,521,179 was earmarked for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on December 31, 202