The Senate and House of Representatives have announced plans to begin deliberating on the 2025 budget, totaling N49.7 trillion, with budget defense sessions scheduled to start today. These sessions will involve the Appropriations, Finance, and other relevant committees of both Houses, as well as Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of government.
The budget report is expected to be presented to the respective chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives on January 31.
The Senate revealed yesterday that it will suspend plenary for two weeks upon resuming from its Christmas and New Year break on January 14. Additionally, an open day for stakeholders to provide input on the budget will take place on Thursday.
These details were shared by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC Ogun West), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, during a meeting with the chairs of other standing committees at the National Assembly. Attendees included Senate Standing Committee chairs and principal officers, such as Deputy Leader Senator Lola Ashiru (APC Kwara South) and Senate Whip Senator Tahir Monguno (APC Borno North).
Adeola emphasized that while the time frame for considering and passing the budget is short, lawmakers are committed to completing the process within the set deadlines.
“Prior to this meeting with the standing committee chairs, the Appropriation Committee held several hours of deliberations on how best to manage the 2025 budget’s consideration. The budget, which was presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu on December 18, 2024, was passed for second reading by both the Senate and the House of Representatives on December 19, 2024,” Adeola explained.
To facilitate an efficient and thorough review, hard copies of the budget proposals have already been distributed to the committee chairs as reference documents for the budget defense sessions with heads of MDAs under their purview.
The proposed timetable for the budget’s consideration at the committee level starts with the defense sessions tomorrow (Tuesday), followed by report submissions from various committees between January 15 and 18. Afterward, the Appropriation Committee will compile and finalize the reports, with the aim of laying the final budget report before the Senate on January 31. However, Adeola noted that the January 31 date is tentative and meant as a guide.
Meanwhile, Abubakar Kabir Bichi, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, assured that the budget defense process would be thorough. He stated that the exercise will be completed by January 17, enabling the Appropriations Committee to harmonize and submit a report to the Parliament by the end of January.
“We will study the budget, and all our committees will review it. The budget is for Nigerians, aimed at supporting development, infrastructure, and other key areas, and I believe Nigerians will be pleased with it,” Bichi said. “Today, we had an integration meeting on the 2025 appropriation bill. As you know, the president presented the budget to us, and we will begin the budget defense tomorrow, running until January 17. We plan to harmonize the reports by January 22.”
Bichi further assured that the committees would conduct a thorough examination of the budget, believing it would lead to positive outcomes for Nigeria’s development.
