The Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave the approval on Monday at the weekly executive meeting presided over by the president.
Security has been beefed up at the National Assembly ahead of the presentation of the 2024 Appropriation Bill by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.
Men of the Department of State Services deployed to man the entrance gates are restricting access to the complex.
Security agents are deployed to ensure that only those with legitimate business at the National Assembly Complex are allowed in.
SaharaReporters on Monday reported that President Bola Tinubu’s government approved N27trillion as the 2024 appropriation for the country.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave the approval on Monday at the weekly executive meeting presided over by the president.
The 2024 appropriation would be the first yearly budget to be presented by Tinubu a few weeks after he presented the 2023 supplementary budget before the National Assembly.
The 2023 supplementary budget worth N2.17 trillion was passed by the Senate after the report of the harmonised sittings of the Senate and the House of Representatives was submitted by Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee amid huge debt profile.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Senate had approved $7.8 billion and another €100 million borrowing plan as requested by President Tinubu.
The president made the request through a letter to the Senate, read during the plenary by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
In August, the National Assembly approved President Tinubu’s request for over $800 million loan to finance the National Social Safety Network Programme.
It should also be recalled that in January, former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2023 Appropriation Bill of N21.83trillion into law.
As early as 6:30am on Wednesday, journalists arrived in their numbers hoping to access the complex for the business of the day but they were shocked to meet a legion of security men who insisted that only designated “2024 Budget Presentation” tags could grant them passage.
Those who displayed their official identification cards and National Assembly passes met a brick wall, leaving them with no option but to patiently wait for the tags which came hours later, PUNCH reports.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas had arrived at his office for the business of the day.
Auxiliary workers, media aides and visitors who had no tags were told by security operatives to go home, even as many of them were seen conversing in low tones.
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