The Senate on Wednesday approved the sum of N11,352,457,101.70 as budget for Nigeria Police Trust Fund for the 2020 fiscal year.
The approval was sequel to the 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.”
The lawmaker, therefore, charged the NPTF managers to expedite action on the implementation of the 2020 budget in other to meet up with the deadline.
Giving a breakdown of the budget component, Senator Jika said that the committee projected that the NPTF would be N34,984,314,243; while N11,354,457,101.70 was projected for its capital expenditures.
He further clarified that the balance of N23,631,857,141.30 would be carried over to the 2021 budget of the NPTF.
In addition, the lawmaker 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.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Sen Ahmad Lawan, 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.
