President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2021 Supplementary Appropriation Bill of N982,729,695,343 into law.
The appropriation bill which was submitted to the National Assembly by the executive in June is expected to be funded largely through new borrowing.
This disclosure was made by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mr Umar El-Yakub, while speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting with the President on Monday, at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
El-Yakub said that the 2021 Supplementary Appropriation Act which will largely focus on funding security and health concerns, is targeted at the provision of military hardware and COVID-19 vaccines and is expected to come into effect from July 26.
President Buhari’s assent to the law facilitates the critical procurement of not just security equipment but the establishment of molecular laboratories, oxygen plants, and procurement of vaccines, particularly the J&J COVID-19 vaccines.
What you should know
It can be recalled that in June, President Buhari, in separate written communication to the leadership of both chambers, asked the federal lawmakers in both Senate and House of Representatives to approve a 2021 Supplementary Budget estimate of N895,842,465,917.
He had explained that the budget was to fund the procurement of equipment for the military, procurement and administration of COVID-19 vaccines, and provision of additional funds for the Public Service Wage Adjustment in health and other sectors.
The lawmakers subsequently asked the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Appropriation to work on the President’s request.
At a joint session of the lawmakers on July 7, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jibrin Barau, as well as his counterpart in the House, Muktar Betara, submitted their reports.
The lawmakers went on to pass an increased sum of N982,729,695,343 as the approved 2021 Supplementary Budget estimate.
Of the figure, N123,332,174,164 was for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while N859,397,521,179 was for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on December 31, 2021.
