The Senate President Ahmed Lawan says President Muhammadu Buhari is planning a supplementary budget for arms purchase and COVID-19 vaccines.
He said that was part of their discussion when he and the House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila met President Buhari at the Presidential villa on Monday.
Nigeria is facing several security challenges amidst inadequate military equipment and poor motivation of it’s security forces.
No provision was made for arms purchase in the 2021 Finance Bill adopted in December 2020.
Lawan said both the executive and legislature believed that a supplementary budget should be provided to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 and insecurity.
He also said Nigerians should expect the approval of funds for the purchase of platforms, weapons and equipment.
“Nigeria is expecting some APCs from Jordan. We’re expecting some APCs from China. And we believe that we’ve not had enough, we still need to approve more resources for the purchase of weapons for our armed forces, because this is the number one priority of government or any government really, to secure the people, and of course later the welfare,’ Lawan said.
