The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, Thursday said a supplementary budget would be presented to the National Assembly for COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination of frontline workers.
She said the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines would arrive the country in one week.
She said this yesterday during the maiden edition of weekly special ministerial media briefing, organized by the Presidential Communications Team, held at the State House, Abuja.
“As we see the oil price rising and provides us more revenue, it provides us some reliefs. We’ll be able to reduce our borrowing so, it is a positive thing for us and also, we have a provision in the 2021 budget for immunization.
“We’re already releasing money to the health authority to start operation in the first batch of vaccines that’s going to arrive the country in one week. But what we have in the budget is not enough. So, we’re working with the health authorities to provide a plan that’ll be taken to the president for approval and to be taken to the National Assembly as a supplementary budget specifically for COVID -19 vaccination,” she said.
The minister said Nigeria would regress if it failed to borrow more to finance critical infrastructure in the country.
She said though the country had expanded its borrowing, it was still below 25% debt to GDP ratio and within borrowing limit.
“There’s a lot sensitivity in Nigeria about the level of borrowing by the government and it’s not misplaced. And I said earlier that the level of borrowing is not unreasonable, it’s not high.”
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