Newscenter Media News The National Assembly is poised to extend the 2024 budget cycle. This decision comes as the passage of the 2025 budget, originally set at ₦47.9 trillion, is expected to take place by the end of the year.
President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to present the 2025 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly at 12 p.m. today, but lawmakers have expressed concerns over the feasibility of its passage before the new year.
Speaking on the matter, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions, Senator Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West), noted that the late submission of the budget has disrupted the tradition of starting the fiscal year with an approved budget in place.
“The budget is coming late. Today is December 18, so we will lose that culture of beginning a new year with a new budget,” Izunaso said. “Nevertheless, the budget has a lifespan of 12 months. So whenever we pass it, it will have a lifespan of 12 months. Even after 12 months, we still have the liberty to extend it. In fact, we are extending the 2024 budget today.”
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Izunaso further emphasized the need for timely budget submission by the executive branch. “That culture of starting on the 1st of January, we have lost it. The executive ought to have brought this budget way before now. But I believe that maybe they are putting things together. They wouldn’t want to delay deliberately bringing the budget to the National Assembly. So I’m saying that that is not a problem, but we have lost that culture.”
The January-to-December budget cycle was introduced by the 9th National Assembly in 2020 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. This marked a departure from the June-to-May fiscal cycle, which had been in use until the 2019 appropriation. The shift was aimed at improving budget performance and ensuring better alignment with Nigeria’s macroeconomic framework.
At the time, then-Senate President Ahmad Lawan highlighted the challenges posed by the previous cycle. “We believe that if we can do that, our budget will go back to that regular cycle, that desirable cycle of January to December, and that will enhance the budget performance of this country,” Lawan said.
Despite the passage of the 2025–2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper last week, uncertainty surrounds the timeline for the legislature’s consideration of the 2025 budget.
President Tinubu had previously stressed the importance of adhering to the January-to-December cycle when he presented the 2024 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 29, 2023. At the time, he urged lawmakers to ensure the budget’s timely passage.
“I am confident that the National Assembly will continue to work closely with us to ensure that deliberations on the 2024 budget are thorough and concluded with reasonable dispatch,” Tinubu said during the presentation. “Our goal is for the Appropriation Act to take effect on the 1st of January 2024.”
The 2024 budget was passed on December 30, 2023, about a month after its presentation. However, the delay in submitting the 2025 budget has reignited concerns about maintaining a consistent fiscal cycle.
Meanwhile, both chambers of the National Assembly are currently holding separate closed-door sessions. Key figures, including the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, and the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, are already present at the National Assembly ahead of President Tinubu’s address.
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