Supplementary budget: Senate holds emergency session

The Senate will hold an emergency session to consider President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s supplementary appropriation for the 2024 fiscal year, which includes funding for the acquisition of a new presidential jet.

A source told DailyTrust that the cost of the yet-to-be-acquired presidential jet will be included in the budget.

The inclusion of presidential jet funding in the supplementary budget comes after the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence recommended the purchase of new aircraft for the President and Vice President, citing the existing presidential jets as faulty and unsafe for use.

Senator Yemi Adaramodu (APC, Ekiti South), Spokesperson for Chairman of the Senate Committee, said on Wednesday that the Senate would meet in plenary on Thursday to discuss a variety of issues, including appropriations.

Adaramodu said, “It’s our statutory resumption from the Sallah break. Senate has the constitutional power to regulate its sessions and we believe that we could gain one more legislative day to deal with national and constitutional issues, hence the bringing forward from the initial July 2.

“We hope to deal with issues concerning our further oversight on the appropriations and clear further the hanging issues of constitutional and electoral concerns. And clear outstanding bills and motions, expectedly before our annual recess, later in the year.”