In a sweeping fiscal overhaul aimed at fixing revenue gaps, weak capital execution and overlapping budget timelines, the National Assembly on Tuesday approved a revised N43.5tn 2024 Appropriation Act and a restructured N48.3tn 2025 budget framework, with the 2025 fiscal year extended to March 31, 2026.
The approvals followed prolonged plenary sittings in both chambers, ending with the passage of the Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bills for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, which were transmitted to the legislature by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last Friday.
In the Senate, the revised budgets were adopted after lawmakers considered and approved a consolidated report of the Committee on Appropriations, presented by its chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola (Ogun West).
Lawmakers said the exercise was meant to recalibrate Nigeria’s budget framework to reflect present fiscal conditions, close implementation gaps and restore discipline to the budgeting process.
While presenting the report, Adeola said the central aim of the bills was to repeal earlier budget provisions and substitute them with revised figures aligned with current revenue constraints, debt sustainability issues and emerging national priorities.
He disclosed that the 2024 Appropriation Act was repealed from the original N35.005tn and re-enacted at N43.561tn, covering statutory transfers, debt service, recurrent expenditure and capital spending as detailed in the committee’s report.
For the 2025 fiscal year, Adeola said the initial N54.99tn Appropriation Act was repealed and replaced with a revised total expenditure of N48.316tn. He explained that part of the capital component was deferred to the 2026 fiscal year due to funding limitations highlighted during the president’s budget presentation.
According to him, extensive consultations between the committee and the economic management team shaped the decision to repeal and re-enact the budgets, particularly to address concerns around revenue performance, debt exposure and implementation efficiency.
Adeola noted that an extra N8.5tn was injected into the capital component of the 2024 budget to fund special interventions in response to security, humanitarian and economic emergencies confronting the country.
He added that the revised framework sought to strike a balance between responsiveness and fiscal responsibility, ensuring that debt-related spending does not undermine legislative oversight or fiscal prudence.
On the 2025 budget, the committee observed that N6.674tn was removed from capital expenditure and shifted to the 2026 fiscal year to improve budget effectiveness, pending improved revenue inflows.
Adeola also cautioned against the continued practice of running multiple budget cycles at the same time, warning that extending one budget while another is active weakens fiscal discipline, transparency and accountability.
Based on these findings, the committee recommended Senate approval of the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 Appropriation Act to authorise total expenditure of N43.5tn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, alongside endorsement of the revised N48.3tn framework for the 2025 fiscal year and the extension of its implementation to March 31, 2026.
The Senate subsequently passed the bills for third reading after extensive debate.
In the House of Representatives, lawmakers also approved the revised N43.56tn 2024 budget and the N48.31tn 2025 budget after adopting the report of the House Committee on Appropriations.
The passage followed clause-by-clause consideration of the estimates at the Committee of Supply and their approval at plenary, presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.
A breakdown of the revised 2024 budget shows allocations of N1.74tn for statutory transfers, N8.27tn for debt servicing, N11.26tn for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and N22.27tn for capital expenditure and development fund contributions for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
For the revised 2025 budget, N3.64tn is allocated to statutory transfers, N14.31tn to debt service, N13.58tn to recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and N16.76tn to capital expenditure through development fund contributions. Like the Senate version, the 2025 budget is expected to run until March 31, 2026.
In his letter to the National Assembly, President Tinubu said the revisions became necessary to accommodate previously omitted budget items and to realign capital implementation targets with Nigeria’s execution capacity and revenue realities.
He said the revised framework reflects a more realistic capital implementation benchmark of 30 per cent.
The president acknowledged persistent weaknesses in the implementation of the capital component of the 2024 budget, noting that they significantly affected infrastructure delivery and development projects nationwide.
According to him, extending the lifespan of the 2025 budget to March 31, 2026, would give Ministries, Departments and Agencies sufficient time to access and utilise the targeted 30 per cent capital releases.
Tinubu said the approach forms part of a broader fiscal reform agenda aimed at fixing structural flaws in Nigeria’s budgeting process, including the long-standing challenge of overlapping budgets.
He stressed that ending the practice of running multiple budgets simultaneously would enhance planning, improve implementation and strengthen transparency and accountability in public spending.
The president added that the revised budget framework is designed to deliver more credible outcomes, better coordination of government programmes and improved value for money for Nigerians.
