The Senate will receive the report on the N54.2 trillion 2025 budget estimates from its Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday or Thursday, Godswill Akpabio, Senate President announced on Tuesday.
Akpabio made this known during Tuesday’s plenary while commenting after a debate on a bill seeking to establish a Federal University of Agriculture in Abak, Akwa Ibom State.
He emphasized the need to conclude discussions promptly to allow for final work on the 2025 budget.
“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 be laid before us tomorrow (Wednesday) or next tomorrow (Thursday) this week,” he said.
“So, we need to close early to allow for collective efforts in that direction for final consideration and passage of the 2025 Appropriation Bill.”
Read also: What Tinubu’s N54.6 trillion budget means for economy
Earlier, both the Senate and the House of Representatives had scheduled January 31, 2025, for the passage of President Bola Tinubu’s proposed N49.7 trillion budget.
However, before that date, the National Assembly postponed its resumption from the Christmas and New Year recess to February 4, the same day it received a communication from the President Bola Tinubu requesting an increase in the budget size to N54.2 trillion.
Following the President’s request for an additional N4.5 trillion, Akpabio and Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, stated that the budget proposal would need to be reprocessed to accommodate the changes.
After reading the letter, Akpabio urged the Appropriations Committee to expedite its work to facilitate the budget’s passage before the end of February.
In line with this, Akpabio reiterated during Tuesday’s plenary that the updated budget report would be presented in the Senate this week.
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