President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, met with the leadership of the National Assembly at the Presidential Villa Abuja, to discuss raising a Supplementary Budget to fund COVID-19 vaccination and acquisition of more military equipment.
President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, revealed some of the details of the meeting to State House Correspondents after the meeting.
The Senate President, Lawan, told correspondents that both the Executive and the Legislature agreed that there should be a supplementary budget for the vaccination and security.
It will be recalled that no provision was made in the 2021 finance bill adopted in December.
“Today, I’m sure in Nigeria, there are no more grave issues, than COVID-19 and the security situation in the country. And I want to take this opportunity to say that the security situation is gradually improving. And I’m sure that when we will give more resources to our security agencies we will see an even faster recovery of our situation”. Lawan said.
“As for the COVID, I believe that our country, Nigeria should have some resources for our scientists to collaborate with other scientists from across the globe, to also have our own vaccine”.
“The US is not allowing vaccines to go out of the US. EU is not allowing, AstraZeneca vaccine produced in the UK to be sent out of the EU. India is not allowing the AstraZeneca vaccine they produced to be exported out. So where do we go from here? We will have to fall back on our own capacities and abilities. And we have great scientists in this country.
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On security, the Senate President said though funds had been previously provided for the purchase of military equipment, more is required.
“We still need to approve more sources for the purchase of weapons for our armed forces, because this is the number one priority of government or any government really, to secure the people, and of course later the welfare”.Lawan stressed
On how soon should Nigerians expect the passing of the Petroleum Industry Bill, Ahmed said “well, thank God, the two committees of the National Assembly, the joint committee in the Senate and the special adhoc committee are doing very well, they have been working very hard.
“It is our determination ,and design that we will be able to pass the PIB by the end of April, by the grace of God or latest should anything untoward happens before the middle of May. But we are determined to pass this PIB by the end of April.”.
Also speaking, The Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila noted that the new service chiefs have started well since the changes were made by President Buhari.
“Well so far so good. The new service chiefs have hit the ground running from what I can see. They were screened and they were screened very thoroughly, and very vigorously. And they come with high pedigree”.
(Editor: Abaje Usekwe)
