Nigerian government proposes N2.2tn supplementary budget

A supplementary budget of N2.18tn has been approved by the Federal Government for the 2023 fiscal year.

At the conclusion of this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Villa, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, disclosed the details of the budget to State House correspondents.

Bagudu stated that the budget will be used to “address urgent matters, including national defence and security.”

The budget will provide additional funding for defence, public works, and welfare programs such as wage awards and conditional cash transfers agreed upon with the Organised Labour.

Bagudu explained, “N605bn is allocated to national defence and security to sustain the progress made in the security sector and to expedite necessary measures before the year ends.

“Additionally, N300bn has been allocated for the repair of bridges, including the Eko and Third Mainland Bridges, as well as the construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of numerous roads across the country prior to the rainy season.”

He added, “N210bn has been allocated for wage awards. In negotiations with the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Federal Government agreed to pay N35,000 to approximately 1.5 million federal employees each, covering the months of September, October, November, and December 2023.”

“Furthermore, N400bn has been allocated for cash transfer payments. You may recall that the Federal Government secured an $800m loan from the World Bank to pay N25,000 cash transfers to 15 million households for two months, October and November. The President has kindly approved funding an additional month by the federal government, hence the allocation of N100bn.”

The council also approved the allocation of N200bn for seed, agricultural input, supplies, and agricultural infrastructure to support production expansion. An additional N100bn has been approved for urgent and immediate capital expenditure infrastructure projects in the Federal Capital Territory.