The Senate on Wednesday, February 24, approved N11,352,457,101.70 as the budget for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund in the 2020 fiscal year. The approval came following 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, presented the report of his committee at plenary. He noted that the Joint Committee observed that it was the first budget of the NPTF since the establishment Act came into being in the year 2019.
According to him, “Only 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. 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 other to meet up with the deadline of 30th April 2021.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks, said the approval of the NPTF budget would “help the police 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.”
