683 billion Naira supplementary budget approved by Nigerian Senate

Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, the Senate, has approved the 683.3 billion naira supplementary budget submitted to it by President Umaru Yar’Adua (US$1=118 Naira). However, the lower House of Representative has yet to pass the supplementary appropriation bill. The extra budget comprised 220.2 billion naira for additional recurrent expenditure and 463.1 billion naira for additional capital expenditure. The money will be used to finance power projects, pensions, salaries, among others. President Yar’Adua has proposed a federal budget of 2.67 trillion naira for the 2009 fiscal year, an amount that is about 2 billion naira less than the 2008 budget.