Bola Tinubu seeks NASS approval for N500 billion in palliative care subsidies. He has requested that the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act be amended.
The President stated in a letter read in plenary on Wednesday that the modification is to remove N500 billion from the 2022 supplementary budget to offer palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy elimination.
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“I write to request that the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act be amended,” the letter stated.
The request became required in order to give critical palliatives to Nigerians as a result of the elimination of fuel subsidies.
“As a result, N500 billion has been extracted from the N819.536 billion supplementary appropriation act for the provisions of palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.
“I suggest that this proposal be considered as soon as possible”, he urged.
At the tail end of its session, the 9th House enacted legislation to extend the implementation of the Capital Aspect of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act from June 30 to December 31, 2023.
The supplementary budget is funded through domestic borrowings, which increased the fiscal deficit for 2022 to $8.17 trillion and the deficit-to-GDP ratio to 4.43 percent.
In response to the President’s letter, Speaker Abbas stated that the House would debate the issue during Thursday’s plenary session and invited members to be prepared to contribute to the debate.
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The N500 billion proposal for palliatives comes amid growing public outrage over the recent elimination of fuel subsidies.
The elimination of the subsidy has resulted in an increase in the price of petrol.
