Nigeria Approves N2.18 Trillion Supplementary Budget For National Defense, Security And Workers

The Nigerian government has approved an N2.18 trillion extra budget for national defense, security, and other emergency issues. This supplementary fund will also help to provide welfare packages to laborers.

Abubakar Bagudu, who serves as the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed Monday that the details of this budget will be shared with the State House Correspondents at the end of this week's Federal Executive Council (FEC), which President Bola Tinubu chairs at the Aso Rock Villa.

Bagudu said that N605 billion has been issued for national defense and security, adding that it will "sustain the gains made in security" and "accelerate the gains in that sector as the funds will be made available to security agencies before the year runs 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," he added, Punch reported.

"The sum of N210bn 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 covers September, October, November, and December 2023," Bagudu further said.

He also mentioned that the $800 million loan the federal government secured from the World Bank to pay cash transfers of N25,000 to 15 million households is for two months - October and November.

According to the minister, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu "graciously approved that an additional month should be funded by the federal government and that is what this N100bn is for."

He went on to explain that the Council has also approved N200 billion for seed, agricultural input, supplies, and agricultural implements and infrastructure. At the same time, N100bn has been allotted for the improvement of infrastructure in the Federal Capital Territory.

"The supplementary budget also includes N8bn for the take-off grant of new ministries and N200bn for capital supplementation to deal with urgent requests made to the President from various parts of the country," Bagudu said.

This extra budget has been approved to cushion the impact of recent policies like the removal of subsidies on petrol, which increased the price of fuel and food.

It was announced last week that Tinubu will present next year's budget to the National Assembly in November, and it will be passed before Dec. 31.