THE Senate on Tuesday jerked up the N180 billion virement request by President Muhammadu Buhari to N213 billion‎.








The decis‎ion followed a presentation by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, who explained that during the interaction with MDAs, the committee observed that there other areas of critical needs that must be included in the virement in order to stimulate the economy.
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However, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, kicked against approving the virement of N213 billion, saying it was not constitutional.


But the Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, countered Ekweremadu.


He said when Ekweremadu was the Deputy Senate President for eight years under a Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government, he never complained about the constitutionality of virement.
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In the report of the committee, N167 billion was vired for recurrent expenditure, while N44 billion goes for capital projects and N2.5 billion for statutory transfer.


In the capital project, the Ministry of Defence is to get N12.7 billion in the virement, payment of local contractors debts/other liabilities to gulp N25 billion, ‎Presidential Initiative for the North-East – N1.5 billion.


The Senate approved the sum of N300 million appropriated in the 2016 budget under the Transmission Company of Nigeria‎ for the construction of 132 KVA susstation at Gwaram, Jigawa State, to be vired for reconstruction of fallen towers and replacement of glass insulators.


In the findings of the Committee on Appropriation, it was discovered that the total amount for the virement is sourced from recurrent and capital component of the Special Intervention Programme.‎


Buhari had written to the Senate requesting for the amendment of the 2016 Budget in order to meet some crucial needs.


He sought to move money from sub-heads to the other.