By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, yesterday hinted that the Committee on Appropriation may present its report on the 2025 budget for consideration and eventual passage by the upper chamber.
Akpabio, who stated this while presiding over the plenary yesterday, said federal lawmakers might commence considering the N54.2trn budget estimates immediately after they are presented.
He observed that the chamber was scanty during plenary because most of the senators were in the committee, finishing the budget for its possible presentation on Wednesday or Thursday.
He made the remarks after a debate on a bill seeking the establishment of the Federal University of Agriculture in Abak, in Akwa Ibom State.
He told his colleagues they needed to end the debate to complete the 2025 budget quickly.
He said, “ You will observe that some of our colleagues are not in the Chamber because of the required final touches on the 2025 Appropriation bill, the report of which will possibly be laid before us tomorrow (Wednesday) or next tomorrow (Thursday) this week.
“So we need to close early to allow for collective efforts in that direction for final consideration and passage of the 2025 Appropriation Bill,” he said.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had earlier fixed January 31, 2025, for passage of President Bola Tinubu’s N49.7trn proposed budget for 2025.
However, before the date, both chambers shifted their Christmas and New Year’s resumption from January 31, 2025, to February 4, 2025.
It was on this day that the two chambers received a communication from President Bola Tinubu, which increased the proposed budget’s total expenditure profile from N49.7trn to N54.2trn.
Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, in their separate remarks after reading the letter, said the budget proposals would have to be reprocessed to include an additional N4.5trn.
Specifically, after reading the letter, Akpabio urged the committee on Appropriations to expedite action on the request for possible passage of the budget before the end of February.
In line with expeditious consideration of the request, Akpabio announced during plenary yesterday that the report on the now increased budget size of N54.2trn would probably be laid in the Senate on Wednesday or Thursday this week.
