By Ignatius Okorocha
The Senate on Wednesday approved the sum of N11,352,457,101.70 as budget for Nigeria Police Trust Fund in the 2020 fiscal year.
The approval came following consideration of the harmonized report of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs.
The implementation of the NPTF 2020 budget would lapse on the 30th of April, 2021.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Halliru Jika, in his presentation noted that the Joint Committee observed that “this is the first budget of the NPTF, since the establishment Act came into being in the year 2019.”
According to him, “only the 0.5 percent of the total revenue accrued to the federation account and 0.5 percent of the total VAT were remitted to the NPTF Account, adding that, “other sources of revenue as prescribed in the NPTF Establishment Act have not made any remittance.”
He, therefore, called on the NPTF to expedite action on the implementation of the 2020 budget in other to meet up with the deadline of 30th April 2021.
Giving a breakdown of the budget component, the lawmaker said projected income was put at N34,984,314,243; and N11,354,457,101.70 for capital.
He, however, explained that the balance of N23,631,857,141.30 will be carried over to the 2021 budget of the NPTF.
In addition, he noted that the purchase of utility vehicles in the budget was replaced with procurement of the Covid-19 protection kits for Police personnel amounting to N358,379,191.00; and the sum of N533,894,117.70 earmarked for the procurement of drugs and medical equipment.
The Senate President in his remarks said the approval of the NPTF budget would “help the police to increase their capacities and of course, provide better and improved services across the country.”
“This is one of the benefits of what we have passed here – the Police Trust Fund – and I’m sure that the National Assembly will continue to support our security agencies for optimal performance,” Lawan added.
