*Pix below: The parliament
The Senate and House of Assembly have passed the amended 2024 budget at N35.5trn, showing an increase from the N28.7trn initial budget.
The bill passed the third reading at the House of Representatives after Abubakar Bichi, chair of the committee on appropriations, moved a motion for consideration of the report at the “committee on supply”.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had last Wednesday, requested the Senate to amend the 2024 Appropriation Act, and the 2023 Finance Act by increasing the budget with N6.2tn.
The request was contained in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and read at plenary on Wednesday.
In December, the National Assembly passed the 2024 appropriation bill, increasing its size from the N27.5 trillion proposed by Tinubu to N28.7 trillion.
Out of the N6.2 trillion, N3.2 trillion is for infrastructure projects and N3 trillion is proposed for recurrent expenditure.
Defending the president’s request before the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on Monday, Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, said the N3 trillion is intended to cover the new national minimum wage.
Bagudu said the proposed N3.2 trillion “Renewed Hope Infrastructural Fund” is “intended to provide equity contributions or counterpart contributions of the Federal Government projects designated as priority projects, as well as critical projects that needed more appropriation so that they would not suffer neglect.”
The minister said the N3.2 trillion proposed for infrastructure projects will cover several road and rail projects, including the one linking Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, traversing Rivers, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and terminating in Borno State.
The House also passed the 2023 Finance Act to impose a one-time windfall tax on banks’ foreign exchange (FX) gains.
A windfall tax is a higher tax imposed by the government on sectors or businesses that have benefitted from favourable market conditions.
The upper legislative chamber passed the bill after Solomon Olamilekan, chair of the Senate Committee on appropriation, presented a report.
The National Assembly also passed the Police Act Amendment Bill to enable a person appointed to the office of Inspector General of Police (IGP) to remain in office until the end of the term stipulated in the letter of appointment.(agency)/###
