President Bola Tinubu has written to the Senate requesting an increase in the 2024 appropriation act by N6.2 trillion, from N28.7 trillion to N34.9 trillion.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio read Tinubu’s letter on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on Wednesday.
In the letter, Tinubu proposes allocating N3.2 trillion for infrastructure projects and N3 trillion for recurrent expenditure.
“Pursuant to section 58 (2) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended, I forward herewith the above named bills for consideration and passage by the senate.
“The appropriation act amendment bill seeks to amend the principal act to provide the sum of N3,200,000,000,000 for Renewed Hope Infrastructure Projects and other critical infrastructure projects to be undertaken across the country and the sum of N3,000,000,000,000 to meet further recurrent expenditure requirements necessary for the prosper operation of the federal government.
“They shall be funded by accruing to the federal government of Nigeria,” Tinubu said.
Amendment of Finance Act
In addition, Tinubu urged the National Assembly to amend the Finance Act of 2023, specifically targeting windfalls generated by banks from “foreign exchange gains.”
His request, aimed at ensuring a fair taxation policy, seeks to address the profits banks accrue due to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
This, he said, is to fund capital infrastructure development, education, health care access and public welfare initiatives.
“Furthermore, the proposed amendments to the Finance Acts 2023 are required to a one-time windfall tax on the foreign exchange gains realised by banks in their 2023 financial statements to fund capital infrastructure development, education, and healthcare as well as welfare initiatives all which are components of the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Tinubu said.
Top Nigerian Banks raked in a profit of N3.3 trillion in 2023 mostly arising from forex revaluation gains. This is according to data from Nairalytics. In 2023, the top 7 local banks raked in N2.48 trillion while in 2024 first quarter they raked in a whopping N882.9 billion.
What you should know
In January 2024, the National Assembly passed the 2024 appropriation bill, raising its size from President Bola Tinubu’s proposed N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion.
The budget was increased by N1.2 trillion.
In the bill passed, the sum of N1.74 trillion was earmarked for statutory transfers, N8.27 trillion for debt servicing, N8.76 for recurrent expenditure and N9.99 trillion for capital expenditure.
The Senate said that to accommodate further requests from the Executive for additional funding, the Committee on Appropriation made some adjustments to the bill.
Some of the adjustments made include foreign exchange differential, increase of Government-Owned Enterprises’ (GOEs’) revenue, GOE’s personnel reduction, Service Wide vote (wage adjustment) and reduction from Service Wide.
