Buhari signs N982.7bn 2021 supplementary budget into law

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2021 Supplementary Appropriation Bill of N982,729,695,343 into an Act. 

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

The supplementary budget is mainly for the procurement of equipment for the military and medical infrastructure as well as COVID-19 vaccines.

He performed the act in his office at the presidential villa, Abuja in a ceremony witnessed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari; Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House), Hon Umar el-Yakub.

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed had last month said the budget contained an aggregate sum of N770.60 billion to further enhance the capacity of the defense and the security agencies to address current and emerging security challenges in our country.

She had further said that a total of N83.56 billion expenditure was set aside in the budget for the COVID-19 vaccine programme, covering 30 million vaccines from Johnson and Johnson and the logistics costs related to the deployment of the vaccines.

The budget also has a N40 billion provision to take care of the needs for allowances to the health, education sectors, and other wage-related issues. Ahmed had added that the supplementary also had N1.69 billion for the Nigeria Comprehensive AIDS Programme.

While signing the supplementary budget, President Buhari commended the National Assembly for the expeditious consideration and approval of the supplementary budget, assuring that the executive arm of government would ensure the timely delivery of capital projects to achieve the laudable objectives of the Budget.

The statement informed that the President had at an earlier date, signed the Orthopedic Hospitals Management Board (Amendment) Act, 2021.

The Act amends the Orthopedic Hospitals Management Board Act Cap. O10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to provide for the establishment of the Orthopedic Hospital Jos, Plateau State under the control of the Orthopedic Hospitals Management Board affiliated to the Jos Teaching Hospital to provide specialised orthopaedic treatment and medical services.