TheCable

President Bola Tinubu has approved the extension of the 2023 supplementary budget till March 2024.

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, announced the approval on Monday while speaking with journalists at the presidential villa in Abuja.

Earlier, Tinubu signed the N28.7 trillion 2024 appropriation bill into law.

The speaker said the supplementary budget has been extended by 90 days.

He added that it would run concurrently with the capital component of the 2024 appropriation until March 31.

“The president signed two other bills. The first one is the supplementary appropriation bill of 2023, which he has agreed to extend by 90 days,” Abbas said.

“So, it will continue to work concurrently with the 2024 budget up to March 31.

“He has also approved the 2023 main budget to concurrently operate with the capital component of the 2024 budget up to March 31, 2024.”

In November, the president signed the 2023 N2.17 trillion supplementary budget into law.

Before the signing of the supplementary budget by the president, some line items had sparked outrage.

Some of the items include: the request for N4 billion for the renovation of the residential quarters for the president in Abuja; the renovation of the residential quarters of the vice-president (Abuja) at the cost of N2.5 billion.

SECURITISATION OF WAYS AND MEANS

Also, Abbas said the president approved the securitisation of N7.3 trillion ways and means debt balance.

“Another landmark achievement we had was also approving the securitisation of the ways and means that have effectively brought to an end these controversial means and ways of borrowing money,” he added.

“He has assured Nigerians that this will be the last of this kind of ugly incident.”

Ways and Means is a loan facility through which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) provides short-term financing to cover the government’s budget shortfalls.

Also, securitisation is the practice of pooling together various types of debt instruments and selling them as bonds to investors.

On December 30, the national assembly approved the president’s request for the securitisation of outstanding N7.3 trillion ways and means debt balance.