THE Senate on Tuesday approved the N43 trillion 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bills following the adoption of a report by its Committee on Appropriations.

The approval came after lawmakers considered a consolidated report presented at plenary by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Mr Solomon Adeola (APC, Ogun West),

Presenting the report, Mr Adeola explained that the bills sought to repeal and re-enact the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts to reflect fiscal adjustments necessitated by prevailing economic realities and implementation challenges.

He disclosed that the 2024 Appropriation Act was repealed from its original N35.005 trillion and re-enacted at N43.56 trillion. The increase, according to him, was largely driven by an additional N8.5 trillion in capital expenditure to respond to security, humanitarian and economic emergencies.

Adeola further revealed that the 2025 Appropriation Act was repealed from N54.99 trillion and re-enacted at N48.316 trillion, with N6.674 trillion deferred to the 2026 fiscal year due to funding constraints.

He noted that the repeal and re-enactment exercise was aimed at balancing fiscal responsiveness with prudence, ensuring that debt-related spending did not undermine legislative oversight or fiscal discipline.

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He added that discussions with the economic management team showed that running multiple budget cycles simultaneously had continued to weaken budget clarity and fiscal discipline. The revised framework, he said, was designed to correct these distortions.

The committee also recommended extending the implementation of the 2025 budget to March 31, 2026, particularly for capital projects financed through the Development Fund.

Contributing to the debate, Deputy Senate President Mr Jibrin Barau, praised the committee for completing what he described as an exceptional assignment within a very limited timeframe.

“This is a top-notch report, best of the best, and crafted within a very short period. We gave them only two days,” Barau said, urging his colleagues to approve the report.

Several senators, including Sani Musa (Niger East), Mr Adetokunbo Abiru (Lagos East) and Chief Whip, Mr Tahir Monguno (Borno North), also commended the report, citing its emphasis on infrastructure spending, fiscal discipline and the move to end overlapping budget cycles.

In his closing remarks, Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, described the passage of the bills as a major reform milestone.

“This is again a major transformative step by Mr. President, well guided, and one that ensures transparency in financial matters,” Akpabio said, congratulating senators for their support.

Nigeria’s multiple budgets

In November, Economy Post had reported that one month to the end of 2025, President Bola Tinubu’s government was yet to implement the 2024 budget fully and had left this year’s fiscal plan in limbo, stalling several programmes that should uplift the lives of citizens.

The newsaper cited some Budget Office of Nigeria insiders who said that the Tinubu administration was yet to fully implement the 2024 budget at that time, with one of them noting that “the government will begin the implementation of 2025 budget early next year.” This was later confirmed even by the government,

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Later, as reported by Economy Post, the Nigerian government directed ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to carry over 70 percent of their 2025 capital budget into the 2026 fiscal year.

This directive was contained in the 2026 Abridged Budget Call Circular issued by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and circulated to all ministers, service chiefs, heads of agencies and top government officials in Abuja.

The circular said, “MDAs are to upload 70 per cent of their 2025 FGN Budget to continue in FY2026. All such rollover and uploads MUST be in line with the immediate needs of the country as well as government’s development priorities that aligns with the policy direction of the new administration which hinges on National Security, the Economy, Education, Health, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Power & Energy as well as social safety nets, women & youth empowerment.”

Bola Tinubu, on Friday, presented the 2026 budget totalling N58.47 trillion to the National Assembly. President Tinubu’s revenue estimates stood at N34.33 trillion, leaving a fiscal deficit of N23.85 trillion.

Debt servicing was alloted N15.52 trillion, with crude oil price estimated at $64.85 per barrel. Daily oil production was pegged at 1.84 million barrels, with the exchange rate pegged at N1,400 to the dollar.

Security topped the spending plan, with N5.41 trillion allocated to defence and national security, followed by infrastructure which received N3.56 trillion alllocation. A budget of N3.52 trillion allocation was allocated to education, with health getting N2.48 trillion.

Tagged ‘Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,’ the budget estimated recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure at N15.25 trillion and capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion.