The Federal Government is set to spend N3tn on the new minimum wage and the payment of pensions and gratuities.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this on Friday during a meeting with the Senate Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Olamilekan Adeola.
The minister presented the general principles of the newly amended 2024 budget to the committee at the meeting.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu had, after a meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress on Thursday, approved a new minimum wage of N70,000 for Nigerian workers. The president also pledged to review the national minimum wage law every three years.
During the Friday meeting with the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the minister noted that the new budget additions would not be funded by loans but by an already reserved profit.
Bagudu explained that priorities were given to projects that would open up roads for investments and emergencies, while other road projects would be addressed in subsequent batches. He highlighted the country’s historical underinvestment in infrastructure as a root cause of recent problems and commended President Tinubu for addressing the infrastructure deficit.
Bagudu assured that the Federal Executive Council would continue to approve funding for other road projects as funds become available. He provided a sectoral overview of the N3.2tn for the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Projects and the N3tn increase in the recurrent component of the budget.
