In a significant overhaul of the country’s fiscal framework to tackle revenue gaps, poor capital project implementation, and overlapping budget timelines, the National Assembly on Tuesday approved an amended ₦43.5 trillion 2024 Appropriation Act and a revised ₦48.3 trillion 2025 budget plan, extending the 2025 fiscal year to March 31, 2026.
The approvals came after lengthy plenary sittings in both chambers, which ended with the passage of the Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bills for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. These bills had been forwarded to the legislature by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last Friday.
In the Senate, the revised spending plans were endorsed following the adoption of a consolidated report from the Committee on Appropriations, presented by its chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola (Ogun West).
Lawmakers explained that the adjustments were intended to realign Nigeria’s budgeting framework with prevailing economic conditions, close implementation gaps, and reinforce fiscal discipline.
Presenting the report, Adeola explained that the core objective of the bills was to repeal earlier budget provisions and replace them with revised figures that reflect prevailing revenue constraints, debt sustainability concerns and emerging national priorities.
According to him, the 2024 Appropriation Act was repealed from the original N35.005 trillion and re-enacted with an aggregate expenditure of N43.561tn, with details covering statutory transfers, debt servicing, recurrent and capital expenditure fully captured in the committee’s report.
On the 2025 fiscal year, Adeola disclosed that the earlier N54.99tn Appropriation Act was repealed and replaced with a revised total expenditure of N48.316tn, noting that part of the capital expenditure was rolled over into the 2026 fiscal year due to funding constraints highlighted during the presidential budget presentation.
He revealed that extensive engagement between the committee and the economic management team informed the decision to repeal and re-enact the budgets, particularly to address concerns around revenue performance, debt exposure and effective implementation.
Highlighting key adjustments, Adeola said an additional N8.5tn was injected into the capital component of the 2024 budget to fund special interventions in response to security, humanitarian and economic emergencies facing the country.
He added that the revised framework was structured to balance responsiveness with fiscal responsibility, ensuring that debt-related spending does not erode legislative oversight or fiscal prudence.
For the 2025 budget, the committee observed that N6.674tn was removed from the capital allocation and deferred to the 2026 fiscal year to enhance budget effectiveness in anticipation of improved revenue inflows.
Adeola also warned against the continued practice of running multiple budget cycles concurrently, stressing that extending the lifespan of one budget while another is already in force undermines fiscal discipline, transparency and accountability.
Based on these findings, the committee recommended that the Senate approved the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 Appropriation Act to authorise total expenditure of N43.5tn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, alongside the revised N48.3tn framework for the 2025 fiscal year, and extend the implementation of the 2025 budget to March 31, 2026.
The Senate subsequently passed the bills for third reading after exhaustive debate.
