By Aduragbemi Omiyale
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday asked the Senate to urgently approve the virement of N276.8 billion so as to improve the well-being of Nigerians.
Mr President made this request in a letter to the upper chamber of the National Assembly titled 2021 Appropriation Act: Request for Virement to Fund Critical Expenditure.
He said explained to the lawmakers that the money would be taken from the N365 billion service-wide vote for upscaling of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).
President Buhari said in the letter dated December 16, 2021, that, “The Senate may wish to recall that I signed the 2021 Appropriation on December 31, 2020, for a total expenditure of N13.588 trillion and a Supplementary Appropriation to cater for critical needs for the security and health sector in the sum of N983 billion on July 26, 2021.
“You may also recall that during the signing of the 2021 Appropriation Act, I mentioned that, where necessary, I will revert to the National Assembly with a request for amendment, virement or other appropriate adjustments to ensure that the core objectives of the Budget are accomplished.
“Accordingly, the 2021 Budget implementation is faced with challenges that will require additional funding for some critical and urgent line items in the budget.
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to forward the comprehensive virement proposal for the consideration and approval of the National Assembly.
“The details of the expenditures proposed for the virement are attached herewith as schedule 1 while Schedule 2 shows the sources of the funds to be vired for the items in Schedule 1.
“In the light of the above, I implore the Senate to urgently consider the virement proposals to support our efforts to improve the well-being of our citizens.
“Please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest regards.”
A breakdown of the virement request detailed by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning showed that N199,129,053,400 is for payment of local contractors debts, public service wage adjustment for MDAs, OSSAP SDGs Projects 3 and Group Life Assurance for all MDAs.
In addition, N4,500,821,569 is for the Federal Ministry of Education, N2,335,167,265 for the Nigeria Airforce, N4,617,811,857 for the Ministry of Defence, N25 billion naira for the National Assembly in settling minimum wage areas of National Assembly Staff and Intervention to settle outstanding liabilities owed local contractors.
Others are N20,038,920,773 for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), N762,678,972 for the Nigeria Correctional Services, N592 million naira for the Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC) as financial assistance for the execution of the 2021 End of Year Special Patrol Operation.
Also, the sum of N19,780,778,558 is funding for the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Usman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, and Jos University Teaching Hospital.
Business Post reports that a virement is a process of transferring underspent funds of an agency or account to another, which needs more funds.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to amend the 2021 Appropriations Act.
The bill sponsored by the Senate Leader, Mr Yahaya Abdullahi, scaled through the second and third reading after it was considered.
The 2021 Appropriations Act (Amendment) Bill seeks to extend the implementation of the capital aspect of the Appropriation Act 2021 from December 31, 2021, to March 31, 2022.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka