2024 budget cycle will be extended to 2025
Following the presentation of the proposed 2025 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu earlier today – Wednesday, December 18 – some senators have said the budget will be judged on how well it reduces hunger and poverty in the country.
Reacting to the provisions in the proposal, Sen. Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) said though the plans contained in it may seem alluring, the way it improves the living standard of the people and lifts them out of poverty will be the best way to assess it.
Said he: “I need to see the reflection of these statistics on my people. I need to see the reduction in hunger and poverty and then I will understand that the budget is benefiting my people.’’
On his part, Sen. Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West) noted the need to invest in human capital to foster development across the country.
“The idea to invest and continue investment in human capital to me is the right focus. This is to say, allocating more resources to the student loan scheme, investing in educational infrastructure around the country and investing in health services. That is why the thematic focus to me is on point and I support it wholeheartedly.”
He, however, expressed reservation over the “ambitious premise of the revenue projection,’’ which he described as a challenge.
For the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions, Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West), the concern is that the late submission of the 2025 budget proposals would make the January to December national Budget cycle unachievable this year.
This is as he corroborated the earlier disclosure made by Senate President Godswill Akpabio that the National Assembly would extend the 2024 budget till next year.
Isunazo said: “Today is December 18, so we will lose that culture of beginning a new year with a new budget. 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.
“But 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 were 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.”
