The Executive and Legislative arms of government in Nigeria are collaborating to pass a supplementary budget soon.
The supplementary budget will address the cost of Covid-19 vaccines and procurement of more equipment for the military.
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan said this on Monday in an interview with State House Correspondents after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari.
On the purpose of the meeting, Lawan said: “You know, its one government where the executive and legislature are working together and we have come to meet with Mr. President, to discuss issues of serious national concern. And one of those issues is the supplementary budget. Both executive and legislative arms believe that we should have supplementary budget to provide funds for Covid-19 vaccination in Nigeria, as well as the security, providing more resources and platforms to our security agencies.
“And today, I’m sure in Nigeria, there are no more grave issues, than Covid-19 and security situation in the country. I want to take this opportunity to say that the security situation is gradually improving. And I’m sure that when we will give more resources to our security agencies, we will see an even faster recovery of our situation.”
He said; “As for the Covid-19, I believe that our country, Nigeria should have some resources for our scientists to collaborate with other scientists across the globe, to also have our own vaccine. Because we can’t rely on what other countries are doing now, every nation to itself, that’s what is happening.
“The US is not allowing vaccines to go out of US. EU is not allowing, AstraZeneca vaccine produced in UK to be sent out of EU. India is not allowing AstraZeneca vaccine they produced to be exported out. So where do we go from here? We will have to fall back on our own capacities and abilities. And we have great scientists in this country. We have many Nigerians outside Nigeria, who are also helping developing the vaccines in other countries. So why don’t you bring them home?”
Intervention
On the kind of intervention Nigerians should expect from National Assembly to tackle security challenges, the Senate President said; “Of course, approval of funds for the purchase of platforms, weapons and equipment are essential and we have already approved so much. And that’s why we’re expecting our Tucanos to be here soon. We’re expecting some APCs from Jordan. We’re expecting some APCs from China. And we believe that we’ve not had enough, we still need to approve more resources for the purchase of weapons for our armed forces, because this is the number one priority of government or any government really, to secure the people, and of course later the welfare.”
On how soon Nigerians should expect the passing of some bills critical to the economy, like the PIB, the Senate president said: “Well, thank God, the two committees of the National Assembly, the joint committee in the Senate and the special ad-hoc committee are doing very well…They have been working very hard, they are working jointly, both the Senate and House.
“At the moment, I think they are about to start writing the report, which they will lay before the two chambers of the National Assembly sometimes in April, probably by the middle of next month, April. And it is our determination and plan that we will be able to pass the PIB by the end of April, by the grace of God or latest should anything unfortunate happens before the middle of May. But we are determined to pass this PIB by the end of April.”
Also speaking on the PIB, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, promised that the commitment made to Nigerians would be kept but the Easter and Ramadan might affect the date.
He said: “On the PIB, the Senate President has covered the ground or covered the field like we say. We made a commitment to the Nigerians and that commitment is April, end of April. But let me just add that, you know, give or take two to three weeks, like he said, only because at the time the commitment was made, we didn’t take into cognisance the fact of Easter break and Ramadan is coming up as well.
“We’re not going to straitjacket ourselves into a particular date, when I say end of April, we are talking thereabout, it maybe a week after maybe two weeks after at most, we will do our best.”
On the performance of Service Chiefs so far, he said: “Well so far so good. The new Service Chiefs have hit the ground running from what I can see. They were screened thoroughly, and vigorously. And they come with high pedigree. It’s not taking anything away from the old ones that left, it’s just that sometimes when things happen, you just need a breath of fresh air, you just need new ideas. And that’s what we did. That’s what the President did as well. We’re working together,” he said.
VON
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