ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- On Tuesday, the Senate issued a warning to President Bola Tinubu concerning potential illegal spending and advised him to pursue a supplementary budget for the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative, which involves N100 billion allocated for CNG buses.
Led by Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe, the Senate’s Committee on Gas called upon the executive branch to promptly present a 2023 Supplementary Budget to the National Assembly in order to initiate the Compressed Natural Gas project.
This request emerged shortly after the President announced measures to mitigate the impact of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.
Emphasizing that extra-budgetary spending was contrary to the law, the lawmakers cautioned against any expenditure of taxpayers’ money or the allocated funds without approval from the National Assembly. They also urged prudence in other gas-related projects.
While commending Tinubu for his CNG initiative, the committee’s chairman stressed that any unauthorized spending would be illegal.
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The senators further discouraged extra-budgetary expenditure through “Ways and Means,” expressing their readiness to support initiatives that would benefit the public.
Senator Jarigbe praised Tinubu’s CNG revolution for powering vehicles and stated, “The noble initiative would ameliorate the hardship of the citizens.
“Also, the President needs to come up with a supplementary budget to enable the government to fund the gas value chain, including the provision for CNG infrastructure and CNG vehicles.“
He also noted the necessity of funding workshops and training for CNG adoption.
Jarigbe emphasized that embarking on extra-budgetary expenditure would be inconsistent with the law’s provisions.
He highlighted the Senate’s commitment, under the leadership of Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio, to support Tinubu’s programs and recommended a 2023 supplementary budget as the most appropriate approach, as opposed to the contentious “Ways and Means” method used by the previous administration at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
President Tinubu, in his Independence speech, pledged to alleviate the hardships faced by Nigerians and announced plans for the deployment of cheaper and safer CNG buses nationwide.
These buses are expected to operate at significantly lower fuel costs, positively impacting transportation fares.
Additionally, Tinubu mentioned the forthcoming availability of new CNG conversion kits and the establishment of training facilities and workshops to benefit transport operators and entrepreneurs across the country.