In a major fiscal adjustment aimed at addressing revenue shortfalls, weak capital budget execution and overlapping budget cycles, the National Assembly on Tuesday approved a revised N43.5 trillion 2024 Appropriation Act and a reworked N48.3 trillion 2025 budget framework, extending the 2025 fiscal year to March 31, 2026.
The approvals followed marathon plenary sessions in both chambers, which culminated in the passage of the Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bills for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. The bills were transmitted to the legislature by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last Friday.
In the Senate, the revised budgets were approved after lawmakers adopted a consolidated report of the Committee on Appropriations, presented by its Chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola (Ogun West). Adeola explained that the exercise was meant to realign Nigeria’s budget framework with current fiscal realities, close implementation gaps and restore discipline to the budgeting process.
He said the 2024 Appropriation Act was repealed from its original N35.005 trillion and re-enacted with a total expenditure of N43.561 trillion, reflecting updated provisions for statutory transfers, debt servicing, recurrent and capital expenditure.
For the 2025 fiscal year, Adeola disclosed that the earlier N54.99 trillion budget was repealed and replaced with a revised total expenditure of N48.316 trillion. He noted that part of the capital component was rolled over to the 2026 fiscal year due to funding constraints identified during the presidential budget presentation.
According to him, extensive consultations between the committee and the economic management team informed the decision, particularly concerns about revenue performance, rising debt exposure and effective budget implementation.
Adeola revealed that an additional N8.5 trillion was injected into the 2024 capital budget to fund special interventions addressing security, humanitarian and economic emergencies. He added that the revised framework was structured to balance responsiveness with fiscal responsibility, while ensuring that debt-related spending does not undermine legislative oversight.
For the 2025 budget, the committee deferred N6.674 trillion from capital expenditure to the 2026 fiscal year to improve effectiveness and align spending with expected revenue inflows.
He cautioned against the continued practice of running multiple budgets simultaneously, warning that overlapping fiscal cycles weaken transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline.
Based on these considerations, the Senate approved the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 Appropriation Act authorising total expenditure of N43.5 trillion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, endorsed the revised N48.3 trillion 2025 budget, and extended its implementation to March 31, 2026. The bills were subsequently passed for third reading after extensive debate.
Similarly, the House of Representatives passed the revised N43.56 trillion 2024 budget and the N48.31 trillion 2025 budget after adopting the report of its Committee on Appropriations. The approval followed clause-by-clause consideration at the Committee of Supply and plenary endorsement presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.
A breakdown of the revised 2024 budget shows allocations of N1.74 trillion for statutory transfers, N8.27 trillion for debt servicing, N11.26 trillion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and N22.27 trillion for capital expenditure and development fund contributions for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
For the revised 2025 budget, N3.64 trillion is earmarked for statutory transfers, N14.31 trillion for debt servicing, N13.58 trillion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and N16.76 trillion for capital expenditure through development fund contributions. Like the Senate version, the 2025 budget will run until March 31, 2026.
In his communication to the National Assembly, President Tinubu said the revisions were necessary to accommodate previously omitted budget items and to adjust capital implementation targets in line with Nigeria’s execution capacity and revenue realities. He explained that the revised framework adopts a more realistic 30 per cent capital implementation benchmark.
The President acknowledged persistent weaknesses in the implementation of the 2024 capital budget, noting that they significantly affected infrastructure delivery and development projects nationwide. He said extending the 2025 budget to March 31, 2026, would give Ministries, Departments and Agencies sufficient time to access and utilise the targeted capital releases.
Tinubu added that the measures form part of broader fiscal reforms aimed at correcting structural flaws in Nigeria’s budgeting process, particularly the long-standing issue of overlapping budgets, which he said undermines planning, transparency and accountability.
ADEOLA KUNLE
No comments:
Post a Comment