The National assembly on Wednesday approved a supplementary budget of N819.5 billion presented before the house by President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2022 fiscal year.
The supplementary budget approved by the lawmakers for the outgoing year would be funded through additional domestic borrowing which would further increase the budget deficit to N8.17 trillion.
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The supplementary budget is expected to address food security following devastating floods recorded across the country, as well as damages to road infrastructure and the water sector.
The Senate committee on Finance, while delivering its report on the floor of the house, recommended that the Senate approved the supplementary budget, considering the effect it would have on the citizens.
A breakdown of the Supplementary Budget shows that the Ministry of Agriculture would get N69 billion, the Ministry of Water Resources N15.5 billion, FCT N30 billion, and the Ministry of Works and Housing N704 billion.
The supplementary budget was approved barely a week after the president wrote to the lawmakers, arguing reasons the funds should be approved for the country.
He said all of the additional budgets of N819,536,937,813 for 2022 was capital expenditure and it became necessary due to the devastation caused by floods on farmlands and road infrastructure.
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In the year 2022, he explained, Nigeria witnessed the worst flood incidents in recent history, which has caused massive destruction of farmlands with risks of food insecurity.
He said the disaster affected several roads and bridge infrastructures across the 36 states of the federation which are critical for the movement of goods and services.
“The water sector was equally affected by the flood and there is the need to complete some critical ongoing projects that have achieved about 85 percent completion,” he wrote. “The nine critical projects proposed in the sector cuts across water supply, dam and irrigation projects nationwide.”
