The Nigerian Senate has given reasons for the speedy passage of the 2023 supplementary budget, which was presented by President Bola Tinubu just 48 hours after its submission. According to Lagos Reporters, the budget was submitted to the National Assembly on Tuesday, following which the Assembly amended its rules to ensure that the bill was passed for both first and second readings on the same day.
The bill was then referred to the committees on appropriation in the two chambers, who worked on it on Wednesday and presented their reports on Thursday. The reports were deliberated upon and approved on the same day. Senator Ali Ndume, who is the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on appropriation, noted that the National Assembly had expedited the passage of the budget due to national interest, particularly with regard to a new minimum wage.
“The increase in prices of fuel, costs of essential services and food items have gone up in the country following the withdrawal of fuel subsidy,” Ndume said.
“Workers embarked on strike many times as a result of this and there were negotiations between the organized labor unions and the federal government. At the end of the negotiations, the labor and the federal government agreed that workers would be paid N35,000 in addition to their minimum wage.
“If N35,000 is paid to each of the over 1.5 million workers, the amount is huge. The money was captured in the supplementary budget,” he added.