The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Ali Ndume, has explained why the National Assembly speedily passed the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bill within 48 hours.

The budget was submitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday and the federal parliament adjusted its rules to ensure that the bill was passed for both first and second readings.

It was referred to the committees on Appropriation in the two chambers who worked on it on Wednesday and presented their reports on Thursday which were deliberated upon and approved.

Ndume told journalists yesterday that the National Assembly accelerated the budget passage because of certain national interest bordering on a new minimum wage.

He said, “The increase in prices of fuel, costs of essential services and food items have gone up in the country following the withdrawal of fuel subsidy.

“Workers embarked on strike many times as a result of this and there were negotiations between the organised labour unions and the federal government. At the end of the negotiations, the labour and the federal government agreed that workers would be paid N35,000 in addition to their minimum wage.

“If N35,000 is paid to each of the over 1.5 million workers, the amount is huge. The money was captured in the supplementary budget.