On Tuesday, the National Assembly approved a major fiscal reset aimed at addressing revenue shortfalls, weak capital execution, and overlapping budget cycles. It approved a revised ₦43.5 trillion 2024 Appropriation Act and a reworked ₦48.3 trillion 2025 budget framework, extending the 2025 fiscal year to March 31, 2026.
The approval followed marathon plenary sessions in both chambers, culminating in the passage of the Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re‑enactment) Bills for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu transmitted to the legislature last Friday.
At the Senate, the revised budget frameworks were approved after the adoption of a consolidated report of the Committee on Appropriations, presented by its chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola (Ogun West).
The exercise, lawmakers said, was designed to align Nigeria’s budget architecture with current fiscal realities, address implementation gaps and restore discipline to the budgeting process.
Presenting the report, Adeola explained that the core objective was to repeal earlier budget provisions and replace them with figures that reflect prevailing revenue constraints, debt sustainability concerns and emerging national priorities.
According to Adeola, the original ₦35.005tn 2024 Appropriation Act was repealed and re‑enacted with an aggregate expenditure of ₦43.561tn, capturing statutory transfers, debt servicing, recurrent and capital expenditure.
Highlighting key adjustments, Adeola said an additional ₦8.5tn was injected into the capital component of the 2024 budget to fund special interventions in response to security, humanitarian and economic emergencies.
He added that the revised framework was structured to balance responsiveness with fiscal responsibility, ensuring that debt‑related spending does not erode legislative oversight or fiscal prudence.
On the 2025 fiscal year, Adeola disclosed that the earlier ₦54.99tn Appropriation Act was repealed and replaced with a revised total expenditure of ₦48.316tn.
Noting funding constraints highlighted during the presidential budget presentation, he said part of the capital expenditure was rolled over into the 2026 fiscal year to enhance implementation effectiveness.
Specifically, ₦6.674tn was removed from the capital allocation and deferred to 2026 in anticipation of improved revenue inflows.
Adeola warned that the continued practice of running multiple budget cycles concurrently undermines fiscal discipline, transparency and accountability, stressing that extending one budget while another is already in force must be avoided.
On the strength of 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, with implementation to March 31, 2026.
The Senate subsequently passed the bills for third reading after exhaustive debate.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives also passed the revised ₦43.56tn 2024 budget and the ₦48.31tn 2025 budget after considering and adopting the report of its Committee on Appropriations.
The passage followed clause‑by‑clause consideration of the 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 ₦1.74tn was earmarked for statutory transfers, ₦8.27tn for debt servicing, ₦11.26tn for recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure, while ₦22.27tn is allocated to capital expenditure and development fund contributions for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
For the revised 2025 budget, ₦3.64tn is provided for statutory transfers, ₦14.31tn for debt service, ₦13.58tn for recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure, and ₦16.76tn 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 nationwide.
According to him, extending the lifespan of the 2025 budget to March 31, 2026, would allow Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) adequate time to access and utilise the targeted 30 per cent 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.
The president added that the revised budget framework is designed to deliver more credible budget performance, better coordination of government programmes and improved value for money for Nigerians.