President Tinubu also sought the approval of NASS to borrow $8.6bn and €100m for the execution of projects.
The Senate has received a communication from President Bola Tinubu indicating his intention to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly tomorrow, Wednesday 29th November by 11 am.
The letter was read by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio at plenary on Tuesday, and subsequently approved.
The letter read in part; “May I crave the indulgence of the Senate to grant me the slot of 11:00 hours on Wednesday the 29th day of November to formally present the 2024 Appropriation bill to a joint session of the National Assembly.
“While I look forward to addressing the joint session please accept the distinguished Senate President and Senators the assurances of my highest regards.”
Recall that Tinubu had on the 31st of October, forwarded the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) to the National Assembly for review. The lawmakers approved the documents on November 22, benchmarking the price of crude oil at $73.96 per barrel and an exchange rate of N700 to $1
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Meanwhile, President Tinubu in a separate letter also sought the approval of both Chambers of the National Assembly for a $8.6bn and €100m external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health.
The letter reads, “The Senate may wish to know that the past administration approved the 2022-2024 borrowing plan at the Federal Executive Council held in Mat 15, 2023.
The project cuts across all sectors with specific emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, education, water supply, employment generation and security, and financial management reforms amongst others.
The African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank Group have indicated interest in assisting the economy to mitigate the impact with the sum of the USD1bn and USD1.5bn respectively.”
The request was after referred to the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts. The committee is expected to report back in one week.
