2023 Budget: NASS resumes, set to extend implementation of capital component

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…holds emergency sessions on Thursday
…we are considering wide range of issues – Senate spokesman

By Our Correspondent

The two chambers of the National Assembly have slated Thursday (June 27,2024) for emergency sessions, geared towards extending the implementation period for the capital component of N21.83trillion 2023 budget and those of the N2.17trillion 2023 supplementary budget.

It will be recalled that Senate and the House of Representatives had in December 2023, extended the implementation period of capital component of the budget for the fiscal year from December 31, 2023 to March 31, 2024 along with the N2.17trillion 2023 supplementary budget they passed in November, 2023.

On the strength of requests made by President Bola Tinubu to both chambers in March this year, both the Senate and the House of Representatives , further extended the implementation period for the budgetary appropriations from March 31, 2024 to June 30, 2024 on 19th and 20th March this year respectively.

Barely four days to 30th June 2024, fixed as end of implementation period for the affected 2023 budgetary appropriations, the two chambers have fixed Thursday this week for separate sessions, where further extensions would be made ahead of their earlier resumption date fixed for July 2, 2024.

Confirming the emergency session through telephone conversations with journalists on Wednesday, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), said the session would be majorly on budgetary appropriation.

When specifically asked whether extension of implementation period for capital component of 2023 budget was in the offing, he responded by saying “varied issues requiring urgent legislative attention, would be deliberated upon.

See also  Dangote Refinery makes case for 100% Nigerian crude …as Senate probes alleged sabotage in petroleum industry By Our Correspondent The Dangote Refinery has made passionate appeal to the Senate, NNPCL, NUPRC, NDMPRA and other stakeholders in the industry to help supply the refinery its crude oil need 100 per cent from Nigeria. Group Strategy Officer, Dangote Refinery, Aliyu Suleiman made the appeal at the Senate Ad-hoc Committee probing alleged economic sabotage in petroleum industry at the Senate Complex, Abuja on Wednesday. He said right now, the refinery bought about 50 million barrels of crude out of which about 60% comes from NNPC. Mr. Suleiman who expressed gratitude to NNPC for their support, added that, essentially, all they are asking is for them to get their crude requirement from Nigeria 100%. “Let's be very clear, we are happy to pay fair prices. We hope that we'll work with the regulator and we'll get their support so that the refinery can get 100% of its crude from Nigeria and buy the crude from companies that produce it in Nigeria not from international middlemen. “We count on support of the committee, the regulators and other stakeholders to ensure that the refinery succeeds, because if it does, aside from the other obvious benefits, like forex generation, job creation and the rest, most importantly, there is the psychological benefit of making, giving Nigerians, Africa in general, the confidence that we can succeed. Giving a progress update on the refinery, Mr. Suleiman said since the refinery started full trial production in January and then full time production started in March, we processed about 50 million barrels of crude. “We have produced about five million tons of petroleum products. And these petroleum products have been sold to various parts of the country and Jet oil has been sold in Europe since May. He said other products have been sent to places as far as Asia, US, Brazil, and so on. So the refinery has been making a lot of progress. He emphasized the importance of deliberately protecting local industries for the over all economic development of the country. According to him, “the US, for example, has done that, to protect their own industries against attack by China that subsidize their own industries and then sends them to the US. So that's the first question. We want to urge the committee to consider if we deserve protection against them”. He posed three basic questions that revolved around protection of local industries for the consideration of the committee and Nigerians at large. The questions are: “Do local refineries deserve protection from NUPRC? “Should Nigeria protect its infant industries in order to improve investment? “Should local refineries have preferential access to Nigerian crude? He said Dangote found itself competing against Russian products that were produced with oil that is valued at $60. “We all know that because of the cap that has been put Russian oil, the value of Russian oil today in the market is $60. And that's what Russia is using to produce their products and those products are being sent in large quantities into Africa to compete with products that are produced in refineries that buy crude at $90. “We don't think this will be a fair competitive environment and I think that when you have such unfair competition, it is normal to put protective measures. “I think even in the animal world, the moment a new baby is born, they don't just go and leave it out in the wild. “What we want is to sell more of our products in Nigeria, because we believe we can do that, we can compete. And even though there are concerns that have been expressed around monopoly, that is a problem that has been identified. The right thing to do is to say, how do we address this problem? If monopoly is a risk, how do we address this risk while at the same time ensuring that we protect our domestic industries? The good thing is that in the PIA, there are provisions around that, you can monitor and take action if you feel there's monopoly.

“The Senate shall be dwelling on wide range of issues at its plenary on Thursday, particularly those on budgetary appropriations vis-a-vis legislative compliance.

“Bills on 2024 Supplementary Appropriation and New National Minimum Wage are out of it , since they are yet to be forwarded for consideration and passage by President Bola Tinubu”, he said.

Adaramodu added that the hurriedly convened session for Thursday falls in line with Senate’s constitutional power to regulate its sessions which according to him, would make it, deal with national and constitutional issues earlier than hitherto scheduled.

Some other senators contacted, hinted that requests for further extension of implementation period for the capital component of the N21.83trillion 2023 budget and N2.17trillion supplementary budget for the fiscal year may have been forwarded by President Tinubu to both chambers of the National Assembly.

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