Senate Extends 2024 Budget Till December Amid Concerns

In a move to safeguard ongoing federal projects, the Senate has approved a second extension of the capital component of the 2024 Budget, resetting its expiration to December 31, 2025.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, who presided over the resumption of plenary on Tuesday, announced the extension of the Appropriation Bill following an expedited passage after first, second and third readings.

Leading debate on the floor, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Adeola Olamilekan, argued that Nigeria’s fiscal constraints and the scale of incomplete projects necessitated extra time.

He said, “Without this extension, we risk abandoning critical infrastructure initiatives across the country.”

The lawmaker underpinned that the government currently lacked sufficient resources to cover all capital expenditures originally outlined for 2024.

This latest prolongation followed President Bola Tinubu’s initial request granted late last year to push the deadline from December 31, 2024, to June 30, 2025. At the time, the President cited the need to optimise budgetary allocations and ensure project continuity.

Some lawmakers, however, had kicked against what they described as the government’s failure to release funds for capital projects, even as fiscal reforms including the removal of the fuel subsidy and new tax measures, have purportedly freed up resources for state governments.

The lawmakers questioned whether the federal coffers had been fully depleted, demanding an immediate investigation into the apparent abandonment or outright non-provision of monies earmarked for infrastructure and social-welfare initiatives intended to benefit the majority of Nigerians.

Their criticism came as the Senate considered and unanimously passed, in a single day, the bill entitled ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the 2024 Appropriation Act to Further Extend the Capital Component of the Act from the 30th of June, 2025 to 31st December 2025′.

-Channels