By Esther Agbo

Next week, the two chambers of the National Assembly are expected to receive the 2024 Supplementary Appropriation Bill from the presidency, which includes funding for the presidential jet and proposed minimum wage.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, confirmed this notion, noting that the supplementary budget is projected at around N6.6 trillion, though he said this figure is not official.

“We will receive the supplementary budget next week; N6.6 trillion is a bandit figure, it is not yet official.”

Upon approval, Nigeria will be managing four budgets in the 2024 fiscal year. Recently, the National Assembly extended the implementation period for the capital component of the N21.83 trillion 2023 budget and the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget to December 31, 2024.

Adaramodu also stated that the supplementary budget would include the national minimum wage. While the Senate has not yet received the minimum wage bill, he emphasised that any proposal from the executive would undergo public hearings involving key stakeholders before a decision is made.

Regarding the speculated N70,000 minimum wage, Adaramodu refrained from confirming or denying it, emphasising the need for caution to avoid controversies stating, “The minimum wage will be captured in the 2024 supplementary budget. Once we receive the bill, whatever the president submits is not necessarily what we will approve. We will hold public hearings involving all critical stakeholders to agree.”

On the proposed presidential jet, Adaramodu mentioned that the Senate would approve it if justified, despite public criticism.

“The request for the presidential jet has not yet come to us. If we can justify it, and we think it’s doable and will not affect budgetary provisions for Nigerians, we will approve it. We won’t let public criticism prevent us from approving something important,” he emphasised.

Adaramodu clarified that Senate President Godswill Akpabio was misunderstood when he said the Senate would approve the jet regardless of public sentiment. He explained that Akpabio meant that the Senate would approve it if necessary.

The proposed budget also includes funding for four projects: the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, the Sokoto-Badagry Road, and ongoing railway projects requiring federal funding.

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, informed a joint committee of the National Assembly that the budget would be partly funded by the N50 billion Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), currently held by the National Sovereign Wealth Investment Authority (NSWIA) and also a proposed $2.5 billion loan from the World Bank, he however revealed that the World Bank management is scheduled to convene soon to decide on the loan approval.

Bagudu also highlighted that the budget would support the rehabilitation of dams and irrigation schemes to boost production and allocate funds for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects to enhance energy competitiveness.

Bagudu emphasised that the proposed bill would finance the rehabilitation and expansion of dams and irrigation systems to boost economic production. Moreover, the supplementary budget would allocate more resources to support Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects to improve energy competitiveness. The Trans-Sahara Highway will also receive funding from the supplementary budget.

The Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has promised that the private sector will “invest heavily” in job-creating initiatives.

He added that Nigeria’s economy can be turned around “within a few months” as the “issues are not that bad.”

The business mogul expressed optimism after President Bola Tinubu inaugurated a 31-member Presidential Economic Coordination Council at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.

Thursday’s inauguration comes three months after the President established the committee on March 27, 2024.

The committee comprises Tinubu, Vice President Kashima Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Yemi Cardoso.

The PECC also comprises 13 persons drawn from the organised private sector, including the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; UBA Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu; BUA Founder, Abdulsamad Rabiu, among others, who would serve on the Council for one year.

Speaking, Dangote said, “The private sector and the public sector will actually work together to make sure that we better a lot of our people…we are going to sit down and advise the government on the issue kind of policies that government should roll out.

“Most of these things, we have them. They have already been discussed over and over. It is a matter of implementation. I think the choice of people who are on the PECC is good enough to advise the government on how to implement it.

“Our own from the private sector is to…invest heavily and create jobs. The government doesn’t really create jobs; what they do is to give us the right policies. I keep saying our issues are not that bad, this economy can be turned around within a few months and I, think we are on that way. I thank the President for inaugurating this Council. We will start working immediately, and I can assure you that you will see a lot of changes coming.”

Meanwhile, Tinubu said his administration is determined to, in the next few months, increase crude oil production to two million barrels per day and generate more electricity for Nigerians.

He described Nigeria’s current power generation and crude oil production as’ shameful’.

Tinubu told the private sector players, “As a nation, it is so shameful that we have about 4.5 gigawatts. We must increase our oil production too to 2 million barrels per day within the next few months. Remove all barriers hindering investments into the sector to enhance competitiveness. We’ve had a challenge thrown at us and all of us will have to be careful.

Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria has recently struggled to meet its OPEC production quotas.

The government has blamed challenges such as pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and operational inefficiencies for the persistent shortfalls.

For instance, in May 2024, crude oil production averaged only 1.25 million barrels per day, well below its OPEC+ quota and the government’s target of 1.7 million bpd for budgetary purposes.

Similarly, Nigeria’s power generation capacity has remained critically low—4.5 gigawatts- which is inadequate for the industrial needs of its over 200 million citizens. This has contributed to frequent power outages and stifling economic productivity.

Nonetheless, Tinubu says his administration is “determined” to partner with the private sector to overcome these hurdles.

“In the face of it, we have the change of energy security; we need to work together to include power, oil and gas to increase our own grid’s electricity. We are determined to do that with your cooperation, collaboration and recommendation,” he said.

The President also emphasised food security, describing it as “essential.” He reminisced on his policies from months ago, saying, “I have declared a state of emergency on food security and we must increase our staple crops by smallholder farmers; we are going to improve on mechanization.”

Citing the Sokoto-Badagry road announced at the last Federal Executive Council meeting on June 25, Tinubu expressed hope that part of his administration’s infrastructural development is “within reach.”

“If you look at the Sokoto-Badagry road, there are about 36 areas dams that we can tap electricity from and generate additional electricity, and help agriculture and create arable farmland.

…Lagos is core jurisdiction for our infrastructural activities —  NSIA

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said on Wednesday that the State is planning to establish a Sovereign Investment Fund for strategic investments into the future.

Governor Sanwo-Olu spoke during a courtesy visit by the Executive Management of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), led by its Managing Director/CEO, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, at Lagos House, Marina.

The Governor charged the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority to consider investing in the Lekki Airport, Rail, Film City and Food Logistics hub projects of the Lagos State Government.

He said, “We, as a subnational, are planning to set up a Sovereign Investment Fund and it is not out of place because we also realised that the Sovereign Fund is critical. It is critical because you can starve yourself a little bit to provide for the future by setting something aside for the future. I think it is always a prudent thing to do. It is not out of place for subnationals to have funds working for today and for the future.

“I am aware you (NSIA) have a massive oncology centre in LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital). We believe Lagos actually requires about four or five of such facilities across the state.

“So, we as a government are planning to support another investor to set up another one so that we can have a way to meet the growing needs of our citizens to reverse medical tourism.

“In Lagos, we pride ourselves on being able to do more if we can get the resources to work with. We have an airport project that we have conceived and are pushing to get financial closure. You can take on the project.

“We also have rail projects (Blue and Red lines) that we have done. There are other rail projects that we’ve designed that will help improve public transportation in Lagos.

“We have Film City in Lagos, which is a massive entertainment city that we are planning to build. It is the future of the creative industry. These are investments we have in Lagos you might look at.”

Speaking earlier, Umar-Sadiq said NSIA is an institution established by law to manage funds on behalf of future generations of Nigerians. He disclosed that the fund last year made about N1.6 trillion in total comprehensive income and N200 billion in terms of core earnings.

He said, “Lagos continues to be the core jurisdiction for a lot of our infrastructural activities. We have a lot of investments and infrastructural development in the areas of health, agriculture, and technology in Lagos State.

“NSIA will continue to ensure that we operationalise ourselves to be essentially the asset manager of choice for both the federal and state governments in Nigeria.

“We will continue to put ourselves forward for use by both state and federal government actors, as the case may be. We can leverage for the benefit of the Centre of Excellence.”