Federal government is seeking the permission of the Senate to extend the life of the 2021 budget to March 2022. The Senate has as a result passed a bill to amend the 2021 Appropriations Act that has extended the tenure of the 2021 budget to March 31, 2022 following a request by President Muhammadu Buhari. The bill sponsored by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, scaled through second and third reading after it was considered. The 2021 Appropriations Act (Amendment) bill seeks to extend the implementation of the Capital aspect of the Appropriation Act 2021 from December 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022. The action was sequel to a letter by President Buhari which was read on the floor of the upper legislative chamber by the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan yesterday.
Buhari asked the national assembly for “virement” of the 2021 budget. After the president’s letter was read, the senate quickly passed it for second and third reading – the exercise was done in less than 30 minutes. In his request, the President said he sought an extension of the 2021 budget till March because his administration is looking to fund “critical and urgent” needs provided for in that appropriation bill. Buhari said his request would enhance his administration’s efforts to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians.
“The 2021 budget presentation implementation has areas that will need additional funding for some critical and urgent line items in the budget,” the commander-in-chief said. In the light of the above, I implore the senate to consider the virement proposals to support our efforts to improve the wellbeing of our citizens.” President Buhari had on behalf of the federal government written to the Senate, seeking for the consideration and approval for the virement of N276,757,232,395 billion to fund expenditures in the 2021 budget. The request which was contained in a letter dated December 16, 2021, was read by the President of the Senate during plenary. According to President Buhari, the sum would be sourced from the N365 billion Service Wide Vote for Upscaling of National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). The letter titled, “2021 Appropriation Act: Request for Virement to Fund Critical Expenditure” read in part “The Senate may wish to recall that I signed the 2021 Appropriation on December 31st 2020, for a total expenditure of N13.588 trillion and a Supplementary Appropriation to cater for critical needs for the Security and Health Sector in the sum of N983 billion on July 26th 2021. You may also recall that during the signing of the 2021 Appropriation Act, I mentioned that, where necessary, I will revert to the National Assembly with a request for amendment, virement or other appropriate adjustments to ensure that the core objectives of the Budget are accomplished.
“Accordingly, the 2021 Budget implementation is faced with challenges that will require additional funding for some critical and urgent line items in the Budget. The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to forward the comprehensive Virement Proposal for the consideration and approval of the National Assembly. The details of the expenditures proposed for the virement are attached herewith as schedule 1 while Schedule 2 shows the sources of the funds to be vired for the items in Schedule 1. In the light of the above, I implore the Senate to urgently consider the virement proposals to support our efforts to improve the well-being of our citizens. Please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest regards.”
A breakdown of the virement request detailed by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning showed that N199,129,053,400 was for payment of local contractors debts, public service wage adjustment for MDAs, OSSAP SDGs Projects 3 and Group Life Assurance for all MDAs. In addition, N4,500,821,569 is for the Federal Ministry of Education, N2,335,167,265 for the Nigeria Airforce, N4,617,811,857 for the Ministry of Defence, N25 billion naira for the National Assembly in settling minimum wage areas of National Assembly Staff and Intervention to settle outstanding liabilities owed local contractors. Others are N20,038,920,773 for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), N762,678,972 for the Nigeria Correctional Services, N592 million naira for the Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC) as financial assistance for the execution of 2021 End of Year Special Patrol Operation. Also, the sum of N19,780,778,558 was funding for the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Usman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, and Jos University Teaching Hospital.
