Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are set to begin deliberations on the 2025 budget, which amounts to N49.7 trillion, at the committee level today.
The Senate announced on Monday that it would suspend plenary sessions for two weeks upon resuming on January 14, with a tentative date of January 31 for the laying of the budget. Additionally, it scheduled this Thursday as an open day for stakeholders, including heads of ministries, departments, and agencies, to contribute to the budget consideration process.
During a meeting held on Monday in Abuja with the chairmen of Senate standing committees, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, disclosed that the January 31 date for presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill before both the Senate and the House of Representatives was provisional.
The meeting was attended by several chairmen of Senate standing committees and principal officers, including Deputy Leader Senator Lola Ashiru and Senate Whip Senator Tahir Monguno, among others.
Senator Adeola acknowledged the tight timeline for the National Assembly to consider and pass the budget but stressed the need to optimise the process.
He said, “Before this meeting with chairmen of the various standing committees in the Senate, the Appropriation committee met for several hours on best ways to handle the consideration of the 2025 budget which was presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, by President Bola Tinubu and passed for second reading by both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Thursday, December 19, 2024.
“For expeditious and thorough consideration, hard copies of the budget proposals were obtained and given to chairmen of the various committees as required reference documents during budget defence sessions with heads of MDAs under their preview.
“The tentative timetable that has been drawn for consideration of the budget at committee level is that budget defence sessions begin from tomorrow (today), while reports from various committees are expected to be submitted from 15th to 18th of this month.
“Afterwards, collation and tidying up of the various reports will be done by the appropriation committee, with the hope of laying final report on the budget to the Senate on 31st of this month.
“However, the January 31 fixed for laying of the budget is tentative as it is just given to guide our working,” he said.
Following his remarks, the committee proceeded into a closed-door session with the chairmen of the Senate’s standing committees to further deliberate on the budget considerations.
