The Senate on Tuesday 29th November 2016 approved the sum of N213, 821, 671, 494 (Two Hundred and Thirteen Billion, Eight Hundred and Twenty One Million, Six Hundred and Seventy One Thousand, Four Hundred and Ninety Four) Naira as funds to be vired from the 2016 budget following the request of President Muhammadu Buhari.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had written to the National Assembly in October, 2016 requesting the virement of N180, 839, 254, 430 billion (One Hundred and Eighty Billion, Eight Hundred and Thirty Nine Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty) originally appropriated for special intervention to be channeled into the financing of critical recurrent and capital items. Of the total sum to be vired, total recurrent expenditure stands at N167, 113, 304, 018billion (One Hundred and Sixty Seven Billion, One Hundred and Thirteen Million, Three Hundred and Four Thousand, Eighteen Naira), statutory transfer is N 2, 500, 000, 000 (Two Billion, Five Hundred Million), capital expenditure is N44, 208, 367,476 (Forty Four Billion, Two Hundred and Eight Million, Three Hundred and Sixty Seven thousand, Four Hundred and Seventy Six Naira). However, the Senate proffered no specific reason for increasing the amount approved for virement.
Highlighting President Buhari’s justification for the virement of funds when presenting the report of the Committee, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations Sen. Danjuma Goje (APC:Gombe) noted that the request was premised on the following:
- Shortfalls in provisions for personnel costs;
- Depreciation of the Naira;
- Continuing requirements to sustain the war against insurgency and
- Inadequate provisions for some items like the amnesty programme in the Niger delta.
He further noted that his Committee in collaboration with the House Committee of Appropriations held an interactive meeting where it invited the Ministries, Departments and Agencies that were potential beneficiaries of the vired funds to justify their need for the funds.
Following its meeting with the MDA, the Committees on Appropriations observed that
- The total amount for the virement is sourced from the Recurrent and Capital components of the Special Intervention Programme;
- The affected MDAs justified the need for the intervention in their respective agencies and some also made the point that the amount proposed in the request was inadequate to meet the observed shortfall required to carry out their mandate and financial obligations;
- The virement request from the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing is to be sourced and utilized within the same Ministry;
- The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Public Complaints Commission made strong cases to justify increase in the amounts proposed to be vired to them;
- There are other areas of critical need that are capable of stimulating the economy which additional funds can still be provided with monies vired from the Special Intervention Programme.
Commenting on the virement, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (PDP:Enugu) noted that virement was a military concept and was of the view that President Muhammadu Buhari should have brought his request under a supplementary budget as envisaged under section 81 (4) 1999 Constitution (as amended).
In addition to the N213, 821, 671, 494 approved for virement, an additional N300 million (Three hundred million Naira) appropriated in the 2016 budget was vired for the reconstruction of Fallen Towers, Replacement of Glass Insulators etc. for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) rather than the initial construction of 132 KVA substation at Gwaram, Jigawa State for the (TCN)
