Federal Executive Council (FEC), yesterday, ratified a decision to raise a supplementary budget of N2.2 trillion. The budget will provide N300 billion for repairs of the Eko and Third Mainland bridges, and construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of roads nationwide.
  
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, made the disclosure, shortly after the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
  
Bagudu clarified that N200 billion was voted for provision of seeds, agricultural input, supplies, implements, and infrastructure. He explained that N210 billion was voted for payment of wage awards, in line with negotiations with Nigeria Labour Congress.
   
Government had, in a bid to avert a nationwide strike, agreed to pay N35,000 each to 1.5 million workers at the federal level in September, October, November and December 2023.
   
According to Bagudu, the wage bill will amount to about N210 billion, which has been approved, while an additional N400 billion would go into cash transfer payments.
   
He said: “The council considered a request for supplementary appropriation, which is a second for 2023, and it graciously approved N2,176,791,286,033 as supplementary budget. This supplementary budget is to fund urgent issues, including N605 billion for national defense and security. You may recall that the Federal Government secured a $800 million loan from the World Bank to pay cash transfers of N25,000 to 15 million households.”