• Why we passed bill in 48 hours – Ndume, Adaramodu, Rotimi
• ‘We dropped Presidential yacht request because it shouldn’t be priority now’
From Fred Itua and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Twenty four hours after passing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s N2.176 trillion supplementary budget, the two chambers of the National Assembly have explained why the approval was hurriedly given within 48 hours.
The 2023 Supplementary Budget scaled first and second readings in the National Assembly on Tuesday and was passed 48 hours later.
In separate interactions with Saturday Sun, top officials of the two chambers opened up on reasons behind what many Nigerians termed the “hurried” passage of the supplementary appropriation.
Chief Whip of the Senate and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Mohammed Ali Ndume, Senate spokesman, Yemi Adaramodu, and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi Jnr, in their interactions with Saturday Sun, said the issues expected to be addressed by the budget were too germane to drag on for too long.
Ndume, in his reaction, said the demands by the Labour unions, insecurity, roads repairs and housing were key components of the budget.
He said: “As a result of subsidy removal, we had to pass the budget quickly. We captured funds for civil servants to take care of them as a result of the subsidy removal. We decided to include N10 billion in the budget for students’ loans. Then we also approved about N8 billion as take-off grants for new ministries.
“INEC has an election and they got N18 billion. The police need funds for the election and they got N20 billion. The Army too. They’re involved in operations in all the 36 states and they get daily allowances. Housing is a big challenge and we gave the Ministry some funds.
“About N300 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Works to fix the roads. The DSS is doing a lot and we had to take care of them too.”
In an interview with Saturday Sun, spokesman of the Senate, Yemi Adaramodu said the Senate didn’t compromise during the consideration of the proposal. He said heads of the various agencies expected to execute the supplementary budget came for the defence of their proposals.
“We spent hours working on this document. We knew the issues were important and we had to work hard to get them sorted out in record time. With the passage, the Federal Government can now meet the demands of Labour Unions, fix bad federal roads and address insecurity challenges in the country.”
Also speaking with Saturday Sun, Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Hon Akin Rotimi Jnr, said in spite of the hasty passage of the supplementary budget, the document was subjected to a rigorous defence session.
Said he: “The Supplementary Budget came on Tuesday, as you said. We didn’t just pass it. On Wednesday, we went through a very rigorous process of budget defence. We had all the relevant ministries, departments and agencies come around to defend the budget. We had the FCT, Housing, Ministry of Works, Service Chiefs and so on. We had INEC also coming to defend the budget.
“You know elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states are just around the corner. There is need for funds to be appropriated for INEC to be able to carry out those duties.
“You also know that it is important for the Ministry of Works to very quickly carry out a number of interventions once the rain has stopped . And these things cannot wait till when the 2024 budget is on stream. For these reasons, the House, being responsible to the issues Nigerians are facing, has acceded to that.
“We didn’t just pass it. There were variations that we made. On the issue of the Naval Yacht, we felt that that was not expedient at this time. We also reviewed the amount that was proposed for the Student Loan, we also increased the appropriation from N5billion to N10 billion. That would be my comment.” However, when our correspondent sought to know the rationale for the appropriation of billions of naira for the purchase of vehicles for the office of the First Lady, at a time the citizens are going through hard times economically, Rotimi was not forthcoming.
The House spokesman said: “What I will say is look very well at the budgetary provisions that we passed. I just gave you the example of the Students Loan and we even increased it by 100 per cent. Look at the issue of agriculture and food security; you are not talking about all those aspects. You are only picking on the aspect of vehicles.”
He added: “The House is a House of the people. Like I said, if you see the budget that was passed, the variation between what was proposed and what was passed; the issue of the yacht, we said that was not a priority at this time.
“Look at agriculture and food security, those are challenges that Nigerians currently face, which are pressing, which we expedited for them to be able to have. Look at issues of housing. The priority is to be able to have 10 000 housing units to cover the housing deficit that we have.
“So, look at those other areas and see that the House indeed is particular about the welfare of Nigerians. You don’t have to take one particular thing and take it out of the context of the general budget that was passed.”