President Tinubu
National Assembly sets January 31 date to deliver President Tinubu’s budget
The National Assembly has set January 31 date to complete debate on the N49.7 trillion budget for 2025, even as the committees consider the budget on Tuesday.
Indeed, the Senate said it would suspend plenary sessions for two weeks upon resuming on January 14.
Similarly, an open day for budget consideration has also been scheduled for Thursday this week to allow input from various stakeholders, including heads of different Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
The announcement was made by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, during a meeting with chairs of other standing committees in the Senate.
According to him, the date of January 31, 2025, fixed for laying the reports on the 2025 Appropriation Bill before both the Senate and the House of Representatives is tentative.
The meeting was attended by several chairs of Senate standing committees and principal officers, including Deputy Leader Senator Lola Ashiru (APC, Kwara South) and Senate Whip Senator Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North).
They acknowledged the tight timeline for considering and passing the 2025 budget but emphasized the importance of maximizing the available time.
Before this meeting with the chairs of various standing committees, the Appropriations Committee convened for several hours to discuss the best approach for considering the 2025 budget, which was presented to the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, by President Bola Tinubu and received its second reading in both chambers on December 19, 2024.
For efficient and thorough consideration, hard copies of the budget proposals have been distributed to the chairs of the various committees, serving as reference documents during budget defense sessions with the heads of MDAs under their jurisdiction.
The tentative schedule for budget consideration at the committee level begins with defense sessions starting Tuesday, with reports from various committees expected to be submitted from January 15 to 18.
Afterward, the Appropriations Committee will collate and refine the various reports, aiming to present the final budget report to the Senate by January 31. However, the January 31 deadline is tentative and serves as a guideline for our work” he stated.
Senator Adeola’s committee then moved into a closed-door session with the chairs of the various standing committees in the Senate.
It would be recalled that President Bola Tinubu presented the 2025 Appropriation Bill to a joint sitting of the National Assembly on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, unveiling his administration’s spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year.
Tinubu described the budget as a “Budget of Restoration, Securing Peace, and Building Prosperity.”