PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has signed the N54.99 trillion 2025 Appropriation Bill into law, a few days after adjustments by the National Assembly.
The signing took place on Friday, February 28, at the State House in Abuja during a brief ceremony.
The budget, originally proposed at N49.7 trillion, was increased to N54.99 trillion before being passed by lawmakers.
It would be noted that Tinubu on Wednesday, December 18, presented Nigeria’s 2025 budget proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly with key highlights, adjusting the exchange rate benchmark to N1,500 per dollar.
The budget, titled “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity,” aimed at consolidating policies to restructure Nigeria’s economy, boost human capital, and stimulate key sectors such as manufacturing and oil and gas production.
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.
The ICIR also reported how the National Assembly had approved different allocations for capital and recurrent expenditures but later revised them to reflect a more balanced spending plan.
The final budget increases recurrent spending while reducing capital expenditure by over N500 billion from earlier estimates.
A breakdown of the budget showed N3.645 trillion for statutory transfers, N14.317 trillion for debt servicing, N13.64 trillion for recurrent expenditure, and N23.963 trillion capital expenditure (development fund), with fiscal deficit put at N13.08 trillion.
The deficit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was put at 1.52 per cent.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M