The Senate, facing a race against time, failed to meet the crucial Saturday deadline set for the passage of the 2024 budget, aptly named ‘Renewed Hope,’ proposed by President Bola Tinubu.
The delay in approval has been attributed to several committees falling short of the Wednesday deadline outlined in the Appropriation Committee’s timetable.
Initially, the Appropriation Committee had planned to present the 2023 budget to the Senate on Thursday, with the passage scheduled for Saturday, December 23, 2023.
However, numerous committees were unable to fulfill the stipulated Wednesday deadline, causing a ripple effect in the budget approval process.
Senator Olamilekan Adeola, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, revealed on Wednesday night that the committee had successfully addressed budget defenses from 48 committees.
Speaking about the progress, he stated, “We have succeeded in attending to 48 committees to date, and tomorrow we will be here to receive 20 more additional committee reports by tomorrow by the Grace of God.
Anyone who couldn’t present his or her report by tomorrow should forget it. We will have the grounds to say we gave enough time, and anyone who falls would be as a result of their negligence.”
President Bola Tinubu had presented a budget of N27.5tn to a joint section of the National Assembly on November 29, 2023, in Abuja.
In his proposal, he outlined a budget deficit of N9.18tn for the 2024 fiscal year, representing 3.88 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product.
Tinubu explained that this deficit was lower than the N13.78tn deficit recorded in 2023, which accounted for 6.11 percent of the GDP.
The deficit was expected to be financed by new borrowings totaling N7.83tn, N298.49bn from privatization proceeds, and N1.05tn drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.
On December 1, 2023, the Senate gave the N27.5tn budget a second reading. According to documents seen by our correspondent, 54 committees have submitted and defended their reports, while 11 committees have submitted reports but are yet to defend their budgets.
Notably, the Senate Committee on Defence, led by former Senate President Ahmed Lawan, and the Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare, headed by Senator Idiat Adebule (APC, Lagos West), have not submitted their reports.
The delay in committee reports prompted the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, to adjourn the plenary till December 29, 2023. In his closing remarks, he urged committees to expedite the submission of their reports to the Appropriation committees, stating, “The plenary is hereby adjourned till December 29th, 2023, at 10 am prompt.”
The Senate’s race against time to approve the budget continues, with the nation’s financial landscape hanging in the balance.
