Chief Whip of the Senate and Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Ali Ndume, has explained why the National Assembly passed the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bill within 48 hours.

President Bola Tinubu submitted the budget to the National Assembly on Tuesday and the federal parliament adjusted its rules to ensure that the bill was passed for both first and second reading.

It was referred to the Committees on Appropriation in the two chambers that worked on it on Wednesday and presented their reports on Thursday, which was deliberated upon and approved.

Ndume told journalists yesterday that the National Assembly accelerated the budget passage because of national interest.

He said: “The increase of prices of fuel, costs of essential services and food items have gone up in the country following the withdrawal of fuel subsidy.

“Workers embarked on strike many times as a result of this and there were negotiations between the Organised Labour and the Federal Government.

“At the end of the negotiations, Labour and the Federal Government agreed that workers would be paid N35,000 in addition to their minimum wage.

“If N35,000 is paid to each of the over 1.5 million workers, the amount is huge. The money was captured in the Supplementary Budget,” he said

The lawmaker added: “There were also agitations among parents of students in tertiary institutions following the increment in the tuition fees and the Federal Government came up with a wonderful idea of giving loans to students in tertiary institutions hence the provision of N5.5 billion was made in the Supplementary Budget for that purpose also. The two chambers of the National Assembly met on it and we both agreed to jerk it up to N10 billion. This is another reason the budget was given speedy passage.”

Ndume also noted that the N5 billion voted for the presidential yacht was added to the vote for students’ loan because the request for the presidential yacht has been rejected.

“There is also the provision of N8 billion for the takeoff of the new ministries that were created by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration. It is very important for them to get certain things on ground to start working.

A particular amount of money was also provided in the Ministry of Agriculture, which was meant for the purchase of grains as palliatives to encourage farmers to engage in dry season farming so as to guarantee food security,” he further explained.

He noted that the Senate also considered that since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has its off cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on November 11, and N18 billion was captured for that purpose in the Supplementary Budget, they needed to access the funds for proper conduct of the polls.

“The Nigeria Police Force is supposed to supervise the election and it would need more personnel hence the sum of N20 billion was earmarked for that purpose.

“The Nigerian Army would also need additional money as duty allowance to the soldiers on the field who are currently engaged in all the states of the federation. Each of them is being paid a minimum of N5, 000 per day. It is not a small amount of money at all.

“Another item captured in the budget is the housing sector, which got N100 billion. The thinking of the government is that it will tackle the challenge of housing deficits in most urban areas in the country.

“There is also the N300 billion allocated to the Federal Ministry of Works. It was not for the construction of new roads but to make the existing roads motorable. This is the opportunity to do so; now that we are already in the dry season,” he added.

He said there was no single provision for the National Assembly, disclosing that each geo-political zone in the country got N8 billion to fix roads in their areas.

“The sum of N28 billion was allocated to the State House. The funds allocated for the presidential fleet was for the maintenance of the aircraft, which are serviced abroad in dollars. President Bola Tinubu did not buy a single aircraft. He inherited all of them and he has to maintain them otherwise if he skips their maintenance the aircraft would all be grounded.

“We asked questions as members of the nation’s parliament and we were satisfied with the answers provided,” Ndume noted.