The Nigerian Senate has extended the 2023 Budget and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act to beat the 30 June expiry date.
The Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday held an emergency session to extend the capital aspect of the 2023 Appropriation Act and the Supplementary Appropriation Act to December 2024.
The two chambers cut short their Eid-il-Kabir holiday to convene in Abuja to approve President Bola Tinubu’s request, which cannot wait until their 2 July resumption date.
The lawmakers were initially scheduled to resume on Tuesday next week, but have to be summoned back to extend the lives of the two Acts, which will expire on Sunday.
The plan is to extend the implementation of the two budgets until 31 December 2024.
The two bills have been listed on the Order Paper as items one and two for consideration:
- A Bill for an Act to Amend the Appropriation Act 2023, to further extend the implementation of the capital aspect of the Appropriation Act 2023 from 30 June 2024 to 31 December 2024.
- A Bill for an Act to Amend the Supplementary Appropriation Act 2023, to further extend its implementation from 30 June 2024 to 31 December 2024 and for Related Matters.
The two bills passed through a first, second, committee of supply, and as well as third readings.
This is the third time the two legislations have been extended by the current administration.
Read Also: Nigeria Extends 2023 Supplementary Budget Until March
President Tinubu inherited the N21.8 trillion budget from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the capital component of the budget suffered during the transition period, as the majority of the projects in the 2023 budget were not funded while the new administration settled in.
President Tinubu also inherited the N819 billion 2022 supplementary budget from the last administration.
In July 2023, the president sent an amendment to the National Assembly to amend the N819 billion budget.
The amendment included an N70 billion package for the National Assembly and N500 billion for palliatives and other capital expenditures to cushion the effect of the recent fuel subsidy removal policy.
In October 2023, President Tinubu sent a N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget to the National Assembly for approval.
According to the president, the majority of the items in the budget were for tackling insecurity.
At the request of Mr. President, the Acts were first extended on 31 December 2023 for three months before another extension to 30 March 2024.
Shortly before the expiry date, the president made another request for the extension of the two budgets until 30 June 2024, which the lawmakers gave speedy passage.
In the Senate, the request was given a speedy passage by the legislature.
In his remark, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio who presided over the session, thanked his colleagues for their understanding and patriotism and expressed his belief that the implementation would allow the executive to complete all abandoned projects.
