President Bola Tinubu is expected to deliver the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly during the third week of November 2023, according to reliable sources within the Presidency.
The presentation is slated to take place during the week commencing on November 20, 2023, with the primary objective of upholding the January-December budget implementation cycle, among other considerations, Punch Newspaper reported.
“It would be three weeks away. The President is expected to be in Berlin for Germany’s Compact with Africa initiative for investment,” a source told Punch.
“It is a continuation of the visit of the German Chancellor to Nigeria last week. And he has invited the president to be there.
“It’s a one-day event holding on Monday, November 20, and he is expected back in Abuja the next day. So, we expect him to present the budget any day from that time.”
Read also:Coalition wants Tinubu to reject WHO’s new amendments
Another informed source, corroborating this information, explained that the 2024 appropriation, the most substantial to date, signifies the administration’s intent to fund the budget through a combination of savings resulting from the removal of the petroleum subsidy in late May.
“He (President Tinubu) will present it around that same time. This budget is significantly larger than the others. It is ambitious yet realistic, and we hope to accommodate it through subsidy savings, tax revenues, and new borrowings,” said the source.
President Tinubu is set to depart for Saudi Arabia this Thursday and will be attending an important event in Germany later this month. On October 16, the Federal Executive Council approved a projected expenditure of N26.01 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year.
This approval was part of the endorsement of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for 2024–2026.
Read also: FG’s borrowing from CBN still exceeds limit
The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to adhering to the January-December budget implementation cycle, emphasising that the President will present the 2024 appropriation bill to the National Assembly for ratification before December 31, 2023.
“The aggregate expenditure is estimated at N26.01 trillion for the 2024 budget, which includes statutory transfers of N1.3 trillion and non-debt recurrent expenditures of N10.26 trillion. Debt service is estimated at N8.25 trillion, as well as N7.78 trillion being provided for personnel pension costs,” Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, explained.
