By Okechukwu Jombo, Olugbenga Salami, Disun Amosun
The two chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday passed ₦54.99 trillion 2025 Appropriation Bill representing an increase of N7 billion when compared with the sum of N54.2 trillion requested by President Bola Tinubu.
The President had last week requested the National Assembly to increase the 2025 Appropriation Bill from N49.7 trillion to N54.9 trillion.
It would be recalled that the Presidency had said that the ₦54.99 trillion budget is structured to address key national financial commitments.
A breakdown of the budget shows that Statutory transfers account for ₦3.645 trillion, ensuring funding for constitutionally mandated entities while a significant portion, ₦14.317 trillion, is allocated to debt servicing, reflecting Nigeria’s ongoing fiscal obligations.
Recurrent expenditure, covering salaries, overheads, and government operations, takes up ₦13.64 trillion, while the highest allocation, ₦23.963 trillion, is earmarked for capital projects under the development fund, aimed at infrastructure growth and economic expansion.
Speaking shortly after the budget was passed, the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Hon. Abubakar Bichi urged the executive arm of government to ensure timely submission of future budgets to the National Assembly to uphold the January-to-December budget cycle.
While presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill for consideration, Bichi revealed that the Committee had engaged extensively with the Presidential Economic Planning team to scrutinize revenue projections and expenditure plans for the fiscal year.
He acknowledged that the 2025 budget was presented later than its 2024 counterpart, stressing the need for earlier submissions and therefore called on the executive to transmit subsequent appropriation bills to the legislature no later than three months before the commencement of the financial year to allow ample time for thorough legislative review and approval.
