By Emmanuel Nduka and Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday passed President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Bill of N819,536,937,813.00.
This was sequel to the consideration and approval of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, chaired by Senator Barau Jibrin.
According to Senator Jibrin, the amount was meant to complete ongoing capital projects, including roads and dams destroyed by flooding.
He added that the sum would be sourced from additional domestic borrowings by the Federal Government.
In his letter transmitting the supplementary budget to the National Assembly, Buhari stated that: “The country has witnessed the worst flood incident in recent history, which has caused massive destruction of farmlands at a point already close to harvest season.
“This may compound the situation of food security and nutrition in the country.
“The flood also devastated the road infrastructure across the 36 states and the FCT and affected several sections of major roads and bridges nationwide that are critical for the movement of goods and services.
“The water sector was equally affected by the flood and there is the need to complete some ongoing critical projects that have achieved about 85 per cent completion.”
“The nine critical projects proposed in the sector cuts across water supply, dam and irrigation projects nationwide.
“I have, therefore, approved a Supplementary 2022 Appropriation of N819,536,937,813, all of which are capital expenditures.
“The supplementary budget will be financed through additional domestic borrowings.
“This will raise the budget deficit for 2022 to N8.17 trillion and deficit to GDP ratio to 4.43 per cent,” he added.
The Senate also effected a major amendment on the 2022 Appropriation Act, extending the implementation period from December 2022 to March 2023.
The amendment is to ensure the implementation of key capital projects in the act which have not been funded as at the moment, the Senate said.
It is expedient that the capital budget be extended to prevent the problem of abandoned projects, the upper legislative chamber noted.
