President Tinubu had in a letter to the Senate claimed that the extension was necessary to ensure that the provisions of the two Acts were fully implemented.
The Senate has extended the implementation of the capital component of the 2023 budget as well as the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget until June.
Extension of the implementation of the two appropriations was a sequel to a request from President Bola Tinubu which the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, earlier read during Wednesday’s plenary.
Following the reading of the letter on the floor of the Red Chamber, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) raised a motion for the consideration of the extension of the bills.
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On his part, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau said the lawmakers were already familiar with the appropriation bills.
He said, “The leader, this matter has been debated severally, we are all aware of it, is there anyone that is not aware of it? It is just the extension of the 2023 appropriation bill, the capital side to the end of June this year and the re-enactment of the supplementary to start from the beginning of January to the end of June.”
The Senate thereafter resolved into the Committee on Supply for its consideration and subsequently passed it for a third reading.
After the passage of the bill, Barau who was now presiding over the plenary, expressed appreciation to the lawmakers for supporting its passage.
He thereafter urged Ministers Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government and contractors to complete ongoing projects across the country.
“The request came from the president today. It is quite necessary to get this passed so that the capital component of the 2023 Appropriations Act can be fully implemented.
“If we don’t do this, we will create room for abandoned projects. We therefore urged the MDAs and contractors to fast-track all the projects that are under implementation across the country,” he added.
