2021 supplementary appropriation Bill of N983bn Signed into law

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the N982,729,695,343 Supplementary Appropriation Bill into law on Monday.

Umar El-Yakub, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), said this while briefing State House media at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

According to El-Yakub, the Act will primarily support security and health problems.

It would be recalled that the Federal Executive Council, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, approved a draft supplementary budget of N895,842,462,917 for the fiscal year 2021 approximately a month ago.

The supplementary budget is mostly used to purchase military and medical infrastructure equipment, as well as COVID-19 vaccines.

Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, stated last month that the budget contained a total of N770.60 billion to strengthen the defense and security agencies’ capabilities to meet current and emerging security threats in the country.

She also stated that a total of N83.56 billion had been made out in the budget for the COVID-19 vaccine program, which would cover 30 million vaccines from Johnson & Johnson as well as the logistics costs associated with their deployment.

A N40 billion provision is also included in the budget to cover the costs of allowances for the health and education sectors, as well as other wage-related difficulties.

The additional budget also included N1.69 billion for the Nigeria Comprehensive AIDS Programme, according to Ahmed.