By Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu

The Senate has approved the sum of N11,352,457,101.70 as year 2020 budget for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), the implementation of which will lapse by April 30, 2021.

The approval at plenary on Wednesday was sequel to the consideration of the harmonized report of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs.

Presenting the harmonised report, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Halliru Jika, submitted 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 per cent of the total revenue accrued to the federation account and 0.5 per cent 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.”

He, therefore, called on the NPTF to expedite action on the implementation of the 2020 budget in order to meet up with the April 30, 2021 deadline.

Giving a breakdown of the budget component, the senator said projected income was put at N34,984,314,243; and N11,354,457,101.70 for capital.

He, however, explained that the balance of N23,631,857,141.30 will be carried over to the 2021 budget of the NPTF.

In addition, he 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 President of the Senate, Dr 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 stated.(ThisDay)

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