By Ken Afor
The Senate, Tuesday, warned President Bola Tinubu against engaging in illegal spending and suggested that he look into requesting an additional budget for his administration’s Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, initiative.
The upper legislative chamber urged the executive branch of the government to urgently present a 2023 Supplementary Budget to the National Assembly in order to launch the Compressed Natural Gas project through its Gas Committee, chaired by Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe.
This comes barely 48 hours since President Tinubu announced plans to ease Nigerians’ suffering as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies.
After several emergency meetings, the planned nationwide strike was called off due to the government’s obligation to comply with one of the demands made by the labor movement: the provision of CNG buses.
Although doing so might seem to be the only way for the government to satisfy the demand, lawmakers insisted that extra-budgetary spending was against the law.
However, the chairman of the committee who praised Tinubu for the CNG initiative cautioned that it would be against the law to spend taxpayers’ money without approval by the National Assembly, as well as other projects in the gas value chain.
Furthermore, the senators advised against extra-budgetary spending through Ways and Means, stating that the legislature was prepared to assist and provide relief for the populace.
Jarigbe praised Tinubu for his revolutionary use of CNG to power vehicles.
He said, “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 added that funding would be required for the workshops and training related to the adoption of CNG.
He further stated that “The President should not embark on extra-budgetary expenditure because it would be inconsistent with the provisions of the law.”
According to Jarigbe, the National Assembly was prepared to support Tinubu’s ambitious plans under the direction of the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
A 2023 supplemental budget, he claimed, would be preferable to the previous administration’s “Ways and Means” strategy, which had continued to be a major source of contention within the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The President promised to make sure that Nigerians’ suffering was lessened in his speech commemorating the country’s independence.
Tinubu had said, “A Nigeria where hunger, poverty and hardship are pushed into the shadows of an ever fading past.
“We have opened a new chapter in public transportation through the deployment of cheaper, safer CNG buses across the nation. These buses will operate at a fraction of current fuel prices, positively affecting transport fares.
“New CNG conversion kits will start coming in very soon as all hands are on deck to fast track the usually lengthy procurement process.”
He claimed that his administration was also establishing training centers and workshops all over the country to educate and open up new opportunities for business owners and transport operators.
