Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has submitted a virement proposal of N135.6bn to the National Assembly. The money is meant to cover projects across many MDAs, particularly the Ministry of Power/Works/Housing.
The request was made in a letter dated July 18, 2017, which was read to members of the House by its Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, at plenary on Thursday in Abuja.
The acting president drew the attention of the House to discussions and agreements between the executive and legislature before the 2017 Appropriation Bill was signed into law.
Part of the agreement was that the executive should submit a “virement proposal” to move some funds from within the budget to other critical items in the budget.
Some of the ministries affected by the request are Power, Works and Housing; Transportation, and Agriculture and Rural Development.
They include Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education, Federal Capital Territory Administration and Ministry of Health.
Details of the request showed that N46bn is to be vired within projects of Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and N66bn within projects of Ministry of Transportation.
Sources of the virement are N33.25bn from Ministry of Transportation, N3.18 bn from Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and N14.13bn from Office of the Secretary to the Government of Federation.
Also, N5bn is to be moved from Office of the National Security Adviser, N5.01bn from Ministry of Science and Technology and N5.41bn from Ministry of Trade and Investment.
The sum of N1bn is to be collected within projects of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, N7.70bn from Ministry of Interior and N80.50m within Ministry of Trade and Investment.
Similarly, N3.15bn is to be sourced from Ministry of Defence, N770m from Ministry of Education, N1.7bn from Federal Capital Territory Administration and N1.3bn from Ministry of Trade and Investment.
Ministry of Health is expected to release N1bn, N735.04m from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and N1.09 billion from Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Accordingly, the letter indicated that N729m would be sourced from Ministry of Information and Culture, N734m from Ministry of Communication and Technology and N2.39bn from Ministry of Water Resources.
It also indicated that N1bn would be derived from Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and N241m from Ministry of Environment.
The communication from the acting president stated that the specific appropriated items to be vired to were contained in schedule 1, while appropriated items from which to vire the amount required were contained in Schedule 2.
Osinbajo, therefore, called on the House to urgently consider the request in order to support collective efforts to improve the well-being of Nigerians.
Dogara referred the request to the Committee on Appropriation for necessary action.
