Senate Approves 2022 Supplementary Budget
The National Assembly has approved the 2022 Supplementary Budget of N819.5 billion for the fiscal year.
Following severe floods that swept the nation, the additional budget will address issues with food security as well as damage to the water and transportation systems.
President Muhammadu Buhari sought the passage of a supplementary budget to be financed through additional domestic borrowing.
Lawmakers’ approval of a supplemental budget for the current fiscal year would need additional domestic borrowing to pay for it, pushing up the budget deficit to N8.17 trillion.
The supplementary budget was proposed for approval by the Senate by the Finance Committee. The ministry of agriculture, water resources, the FCT, and works are covered by the supplementary budget.
A breakdown of the Supplementary Budget shows that the Ministry of Agriculture is to get N69 billion, the Ministry of Water Resources N15.5 billion, FCT N30 billion and the Ministry of Works and Housing N704 billion.
Only a week had passed when the president sent a letter to the lawmakers outlining the benefits the additional funding would bring to the nation before they were accepted.
He said all of the additional budgets of N819,536,937,813 for 2022 was capital expenditure and it became necessary due to the devastation caused by floods on farmlands and road infrastructure.
He noted that in the year 2022, Nigeria had the greatest floods in recent memory, which led to vast damage to farms and the possibility of food insecurity.
According to him, the disaster had an impact on a number of bridges and roads that were crucial for the transportation of goods and services across the 36 states of the union.
“The water sector was equally affected by the flood and there is the need to complete some critical ongoing projects that have achieved about 85 per cent completion,” he stated.
“The nine critical projects proposed in the sector cuts across water supply, dam and irrigation projects nationwide.”
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