THE National Assembly has approved an extension of the 2024 budget to run till June 30, 2025, thereby halting its January-December budget cycle.
The Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, announced this at the joint sitting of the upper and lower chambers for the 2025 budget presentation by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, December 18.
He said the extension was to ensure continuity in fiscal operations and the seamless execution of key government projects.
He hinted that the enabling law for the extension had been put in place.
Analysts believe the extension will help the government achieve its economic goals while mitigating challenges posed by delayed project implementation and fiscal bottlenecks.
It will also ensure that critical expenditures continue uninterrupted while the 2025 budget undergoes deliberation and approval.
Highlighting the Tax Reform Bill, the Nigerian Revenue Service Establishment Bill 2024, and other critical legislative initiatives, Akpabio said the efforts were essential steps toward the Tinubu-led administration’s vision of a prosperous and technologically advanced Nigeria.
He called on ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of the government to prioritise their roles in the budget defence process, emphasising the need for timely submissions and active participation.
The Senate President warned that the National Assembly would take decisive action against MDAs that fail to appear for budget defence sessions or cause unnecessary delays.
Commenting on the 2024 budget performance so far, Akpabio said, “Your Excellency, we have noted the 2024 budget performance of 50 per cent for capital expenditure and 48 per cent for recurrent expenditure respectively.”
He stressed that the enabling law to facilitate the budget extension had been put in place to ensure the National Assembly sustains the momentum of the budget implementation and the enabling oversight function.
The ICIR can report that the ninth National Assembly in 2020 introduced the January-December budget cycle during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari as a strategy to enhance budget performance.
During its first budget presentation in 2023, Tinubu urged the National Assembly to hasten its passage to maintain the January-December cycle.
“I am confident that the National Assembly will continue to work closely with us to ensure that deliberations on the 2024 budget are thorough and concluded with reasonable dispatch. Our goal is for the Appropriation Act to take effect on the 1st of January 2024,” Tinubu had said.
Meanwhile, Tinubu had shifted the 2025 budget presentation from Tuesday, December 17 to Wednesday, December 18, to enable the executive to adjust the budget.