President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded a proposal for the amendment of the 2022 Appropriation Act to the National Assembly.
In the amendment proposal, the President earmarked the sum of N2.557 trillion for fuel subsidy.
The amendment proposal is contained in a six-page letter sent to the House on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
In the letter, President Buhari is asking the National Assembly to approve the sum of N2.557 trillion supplementary budget for petrol subsidy from July to December 2022.
The president said the supplementary budget had become necessary, as there was need to restore provisions for key projects, which was slashed by the National Assembly.
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who disclosed this during plenary, yesterday, said the request was contained in a letter dated February 10, 2022.
Buhari, in the letter, said it was imperative to remove all capital projects that were replicated in the 2022 Appropriation Act, Lawan said.
He said 139 out of the 254 projects in the budget totalling N13.24 billion had been identified by the president for deletion.
He said the president requested the National Assembly to amend the Appropriation Act to provide for capital expenditures in the sum of N106,161,499,052 billion; and N43,870,592,044 billion for recurrent expenditures.
In a letter read by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, at yesterday’s plenary, the president stated that “it has become necessary to present this amendment proposal considering the impacts of the recent suspension of the Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidy removal and the adverse implications that some changes made by the National Assembly in the 2022 Appropriation Act could have for the successful implementation of the budget.”
Buhari underscored the need to reinstate four capital projects totalling N1.4 billion in the Executive proposal for the Federal Ministry of Water Resources; and N22.0 billion cut from the provision for the Sinking Fund to retire mature loans needed to meet government’s obligations under already Issued Bonds.
The letter read: “As I indicated at the signing of the 2022 Appropriation Act, I forward herewith the Proposals for amendment of the 2022 Appropriation Act (as detailed in Schedules I-V), for the kind consideration and approval by the Senate.
