The Senate on Wednesday backed President Bola Tinubu’s requests to amend the 2024 budget by N6.2 trillion and to amend the 2023 Finance Act to “impose and charge windfall tax on banks” for their foreign exchange operations.
The budget amendment bill, which passed second reading, made a provision of N3.2tn for capital projects under the President’s ‘renewed hope infrastructure projects.’
It also made a provision of N3tn for recurrent expenditure to capture the proposals for new national minimum wage expected to be laid before the National Assembly soon.
But, Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session, kept insisting that the amendment bill was not a 2024 supplementary budget.
“It is an amendment, not a supplementary budget.
“It is just to move funds from here to there and other such things”, Jibrin interjected as senators debated the two bills on the floor in Abuja.
He also stated that the two bills were meant to address critical projects and the minimum wage.
While leading the debate on the bills, Senate Leader, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti-Central), said among the renewed hope infrastructure projects were the Lagos-Calabar coastal road and the Lagos-badagry expressway.
On the minimum wage, Bamidele explained that there was no provision for it in the 2024 budget, a reason it became necessary to plan for it before the bill was brought to the legislature.
He also said the Finance Act, 2023 was being amended to provide funding for the amendments and the minimum wage.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sen. Sani Musa (APC, Niger-East), in defending the plan to tax the profits of banks, said the banks had made more money lately, taking advantage of the administration’s foreign exchange policies.
He stated, “The end-of-year reports of the banks tripled, despite the high interest rates. How are they making this money?
Peoplesmind