The Senate, on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, cautioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against unnecessary spending and advised him to seek a supplementary budget for its Compressed Natural Gas, CNG initiative.

The Senate Committee on Gas, led by Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe, charges the executive arm of government to present a 2023 Supplementary Budget to the National Assembly to launch the Compressed Natural Gas project.

This is part of the Independence speech promise made by President Bola Tinubu on measures to cushion the pains of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.

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The Legislators insist the loan is but a means of extra-budgetary spending.

The committee’s chairman who commended Tinubu for the CNG initiative, however, warned that it would be illegal to spend taxpayers’ money or the money without approval by the National Assembly, and other projects in the gas value chairman

Jarigbe applauded Tinubu on the CNG revolution to power vehicles.

He said, “The noble initiative would ameliorate the hardship of the citizens. Also, the President needs to come up with a supplementary budget to enable the government to fund the gas value chain, including the provision for CNG infrastructure and CNG vehicles.”

He also noted that the workshops and training for CNG adoption would need to be funded.

“The President should not embark on extra-budgetary expenditure because it would be inconsistent with the provisions of the law.”

Jarigbe relates that the National Assembly’s readiness, under the leadership of the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to support programmes of Tinubu.

He said, ” The 2023 supplementary budget would be most appropriate, instead of the ‘Ways and Means’ approach of the previous administration, which had remained a major issue of contention in the Central Bank of Nigeria”.

In his Independence speech, the President explained that he would ensure that the hardship of Nigerians was alleviated.

Tinubu had said, “A Nigeria where hunger, poverty, and hardship are pushed into the shadows of an ever-fading past.

“We have opened a new chapter in public transportation through the deployment of cheaper, safer CNG buses across the nation. These buses will operate at a fraction of current fuel prices, positively affecting transport fares.

“New CNG conversion kits will start coming in very soon as all hands are on deck to fast track the usually lengthy procurement process.”

He said his administration was also setting up training facilities and workshops across the nation to train and provide new opportunities for transport operators and entrepreneurs.