Senate panel asks Tinubu to send supplementary budget for CNG buses

The senate committee on
gas has asked President Bola Tinubu to send a supplementary budget to
facilitate the procurement of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses for mass transit
across the country.

The federal government
agreed to earmark N100 billion for the buses in the memorandum of understanding
(MoU) signed between it and organised labour.

The MoU was put in
place to avert an indefinite strike by labour.

The Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had planned to embark on a strike
to protest economic hardship and removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)
popularly known as petrol.

In a statement on
Tuesday, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, chair of the senate gas committee, said it would
be illegal for the president to make the procurement of the CNG buses without
recourse to the national assembly.

Jarigbe commended the
president for the initiative to provide the CNG buses, adding tha it would
ameliorate the suffering of citizens.

“The law frowns at
extra budgetary spending,” the chair said.

“It will be
illegal to spend tax payers money without approval by the national
assembly.”

The Cross River senator
added that it would be appropriate for the federal government to raise the
funds through a supplementary budget and not “ways and means”, a
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) provision.