Lawmakers Approve Tinubu’s request for N500bn Palliatives, to get N70bn Cut

The National Assembly has approved the request for N500bn for palliatives to cushion the fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu.

Both houses passed an amendment to the N819.5 billion 2022 supplementary budget, and also approved N70 billion for the “working condition” of Federal lawmakers.

The N500 billion fund will be domiciled in Finance ministry. The detail also showed that N185 billion is for Ministry of Works and Housing to alleviate the impact of the severe flooding experienced in the country in 2022 on road infrastructure across the six geopolitical zones.

The sum of N19.2 billion is allocated to Ministry of Agriculture to ameliorate the massive destruction to farmlands across the country during the severe flooding experienced last year; N35 billion to National Judicial Council; N10 billion to Federal Capital Territory Administration for critical projects and N70 billion to National Assembly to support the working conditions of new members.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly also approved President Tinubu’s request to borrow $800 million from the World Bank.