The National Assembly on Tuesday approved a revised 2024 Appropriation Act and a reworked 2025 budget framework in what lawmakers described as a major fiscal reset aimed at addressing revenue shortfalls, weak capital execution and the long-standing problem of overlapping budget cycles in Nigeria’s public finance management.
The approvals followed marathon plenary sessions in both chambers of the legislature, culminating in the passage of the Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bills for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, which were transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last Friday. Under the revised framework, the 2024 budget was increased to N43.5tn, while the 2025 budget was adjusted downward to N48.3tn, with the implementation period for the 2025 fiscal year extended to March 31, 2026.
At the Senate, the revised budgets were approved after the adoption of a consolidated report of the Committee on Appropriations, presented by its chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola (Ogun West). Adeola told lawmakers that the bills were intended to repeal earlier budget provisions and replace them with revised figures that more accurately reflect prevailing revenue constraints, debt sustainability concerns and emerging national priorities.
Presenting the report, Adeola explained that the original 2024 Appropriation Act of N35.005tn had been repealed and re-enacted with an aggregate expenditure of N43.561tn. He said the revised figure comprehensively captured statutory transfers, debt servicing obligations, recurrent expenditure and capital spending, in line with updated fiscal assumptions reviewed by the committee.
According to the senator, an additional N8.5tn was injected into the capital component of the 2024 budget to fund special interventions in response to security, humanitarian and economic emergencies confronting the country. He said the adjustments were informed by extensive engagements between the committee and the economic management team, particularly on revenue performance, rising debt exposure and the need to improve implementation outcomes.
On the 2025 fiscal year, Adeola disclosed that the earlier N54.99tn budget framework had been repealed and replaced with a revised total expenditure of N48.316tn. He explained that N6.674tn was removed from the capital allocation and deferred to the 2026 fiscal year due to funding constraints highlighted during the President’s budget presentation and concerns over execution capacity.
Adeola warned against the continued practice of running multiple budget cycles concurrently, describing it as a major source of fiscal indiscipline, weak transparency and poor accountability. He said extending the lifespan of one budget while another is already in force undermines effective planning and distorts implementation timelines across Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Based on these findings, the committee recommended that the Senate approve the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 Appropriation Act to authorise total expenditure of N43.5tn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, alongside the revised N48.3tn framework for the 2025 fiscal year. It also recommended extending the implementation of the 2025 budget to March 31, 2026, to allow for more realistic execution.
The Senate subsequently passed the bills for third reading after exhaustive debate, with lawmakers largely agreeing that the revisions were necessary to restore discipline to the budgeting process and align expenditure plans with economic realities.
In a separate but related session, the House of Representatives also approved the revised budgets after considering and adopting the report of its Committee on Appropriations. The passage followed clause-by-clause consideration of the revised estimates at the Committee of Supply and their subsequent approval at plenary presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.
A breakdown of the revised 2024 budget shows that N1.74tn was earmarked for statutory transfers, N8.27tn for debt servicing, N11.26tn for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while N22.27tn was allocated to capital expenditure and development fund contributions for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
For the revised 2025 budget, N3.64tn was provided for statutory transfers, N14.31tn for debt servicing, N13.58tn for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure and N16.76tn for capital expenditure through development fund contributions. Like the Senate version, the 2025 budget is expected to run until March 31, 2026.
In his communication to the National Assembly, President Tinubu explained that the revisions were necessitated by the need to accommodate budgetary items previously omitted and to adjust capital implementation targets in line with Nigeria’s execution capacity and revenue realities. He said the revised framework reflects a more realistic capital implementation benchmark of 30 per cent.
The President acknowledged persistent weaknesses in the implementation of the capital component of the 2024 budget, noting that these challenges significantly undermined infrastructure delivery and development projects across the country. According to him, extending the lifespan of the 2025 budget would give MDAs adequate time to access and utilise the targeted capital releases.
Tinubu said the approach forms part of a broader fiscal reform agenda aimed at correcting structural flaws in Nigeria’s budgeting process, including the long-standing problem of overlapping budgets. He stressed that ending the practice of running multiple budgets simultaneously would improve planning, enhance implementation, and strengthen transparency and accountability in public expenditure.
He added that the revised budget framework was designed to deliver more credible budget performance, improve coordination of government programmes and ensure better value for money for Nigerians, as the administration seeks to stabilise public finances amid economic pressures.