This week, the Senate’s Committee on Appropriations would submit the N54.2 trillion 2025 budget report for potential enactment, barring any unanticipated events.

During Tuesday’s plenary, Senate President Godswill Akpabio hinted that the report would likely be presented on Wednesday or Thursday by the Committee on Appropriations, which is led by Senator Solomon Adeola of the APC Ogun West.

At a joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, President Bola Tinubu presented a budget of N49.7 trillion. However, he later increased it to N54.2 trillion, citing N4.5 trillion in additional revenue from generating agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), and other Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs).

In his comments during Tuesday’s debate on a measure that would construct a Federal University of Agriculture in Abak, Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio stated that the debate needed to be swiftly concluded in order to complete the 2025 budget.

Because of the necessary finishing touches on the 2025 Appropriations Bill, whose report will be presented to us either tomorrow (Wednesday) or next Thursday this week, you will notice that some of our colleagues are not in the chamber.

In order to enable group activities in that direction for the 2025 Appropriations Bill’s final review and passage, he stated that we must close early.

Remember that the Senate and the House of Representatives had already set January 31, 2025, as the deadline for passing President Tinubu’s N49.7 trillion 2025 budget proposal.

On the other hand, both chambers rescheduled their Christmas and New Year’s break from January 31, 2025, to February 4, 2025, the day they were both informed by the president that the proposed budget’s overall expenditure profile would increase from N49.7 trillion to N54.2 trillion.

After reading the letter, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas and Akpabio both stated in separate statements that the budget proposals would need to be revised to include an extra N4.5 trillion.

Specifically, Akpabio, after reading the letter, urged the committee on Appropriations to expedite action on the request for possible passage of the budget before the end of February.

Apparently in line with the expeditious consideration of the request, Akpabio during plenary on Tuesday, announced that report on the now increased budget size of N54.2 trillion will be laid in the Senate on Wednesday or Thursday this week.