The Senate has amended the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act to extend the implementation year from the 30th of June to the 31st of December, 2023.
The National Assembly had extended the implementation of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act from 31st December 2022 to 31st March 2023.
This was to allow full implementation of the budget, especially in light of the 2022 supplementary budget approved in December 2022, it is said.
Channels Television reports that the extension had allowed the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of government to utilise a large proportion of funds released to them.
However, according to Senate Leader, Abdullahi Gobir, significant amounts of funds remain with MDAs and will require a further extension to be fully expended.
Gobir said considering the critical nature of some projects nearing completion, requesting a further extension of the expiration clause in the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Bill is expedient to avoid compounding the problem of abandoned projects, as some of them were not provided for in the 2023 Budget.
The Senate is therefore amending the 2022 Appropriation Act to allow full utilisation of the capital releases to help reflate the economy.
Also during the session, the Senate amended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act to increase the total CBN advances to the Federal Government from five percent to a maximum of 15 percent.
According to the Senate Leader, who read the lead debate on the bill, the proposed amendment is to enable the Federal Government to meet its immediate and future obligation in the approval of the ways and means by the National Assembly and advances to the Federal Government by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
These were part of the deliberations of the upper chamber which convened an emergency session Saturday, just two days before the presidential inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
This is the second time in the 9th Senate that an emergency session is convened. The first was during the COVID-19 pandemic to approve funds to address the pandemic.
From the just released order paper, the major proposed legislations for consideration Saturday are the 2022 supplementary budget amendment bill and the CBN Act amendment bill.
