THE National Assembly on Thursday passed the ₦54.99 trillion 2025 appropriation bill, raising it from the initially proposed N49.7 trillion.
The bill was passed separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
A breakdown of the budget showed N3.645trillion for statutory transfers, N14.317trillion for debt servicing, N13.64trn for recurrent expenditure, and N23.963trillion capital expenditure (development fund), with fiscal deficit put at N13.08trn.
The deficit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was put at 1.52 per cent.
Last week, President Bola Tinubu increased the 2025 fiscal year budget from an initial N49.7 trillion to N54.2 trillion, seeking approval from the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Abubakar Bichi, while presenting the bill for consideration, stated that the committee met with the Presidential Economic Planning team to further discuss revenue projections and expenditure for the 2025 Appropriation Bill.
According to him, the 2025 Appropriation Bill was presented late, compared to that of 2024.
He urged the executive to present subsequent budgets to the National Assembly not later than three months before the next financial year, to maintain the January to December budget cycle.
The ICIR reports that the passed budget showed N3.645 trillion for statutory transfers, N14.3 trillion for debt servicing, N13.6 trillion for recurrent expenditure, and N23.9 trillion for capital expenditure.
Before President Tinubu requested an increase from the initial figure, The ICIR reported that the proposed 2025 budget is estimated at N47.9 trillion, representing a 36.6 per cent increase (or about ₦12.85 trillion) compared to the 2024 Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) aggregate expenditure estimate of ₦35.06 trillion.
It would be noted that Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, December 18 presented Nigeria’s 2025 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly with key highlights, adjusting the exchange rate benchmark to N1,500 per dollar.
Christened ‘Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity,’ Tinubu presented a budget size of N47.9 trillion to the chambers.
He said the 2025 budget sought to consolidate the key policies his administration had instituted to restructure Nigeria’s economy and boost human capital development, increase the volume of trade and investments, bolster oil and gas production, get the manufacturing sector humming, and ultimately increase the competitiveness of the country’s economy.
In the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) and fiscal strategy paper (FSP) for 2025-2027 passed by the National Assembly on November 30, Tinubu has presented an exchange rate pegged at N1,400 to the dollar for the three years, The ICIR reported.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.