President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded the Appropriation (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2024–2025 to the House of Representatives, seeking legislative approval for a N43.56 trillion spending plan aimed at ending the long-standing practice of running multiple budgets simultaneously.
The bill, transmitted in line with constitutional appropriation procedures, authorises the withdrawal of N43,561,041,744,507 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
Deputy Speaker of the House, Benjamin Kalu, read the President’s letter during Wednesday’s plenary.
He disclosed that the proposed expenditure comprises N1.74 trillion for statutory transfers, N8.27 trillion for debt servicing, N8.11 trillion for recurrent non-debt spending, and N22.28 trillion allocated to capital expenditure and development fund contributions.
Multiple and overlapping budget cycles have remained a persistent feature of federal fiscal management, often justified by the government and the National Assembly as necessary to complete ongoing projects.
Under the Tinubu administration, lawmakers have approved several overlapping budgets, further entrenching the practice.
In 2024 alone, Nigeria operated three budgets: the N21.8 trillion 2023 budget, the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget, and the N28.7 trillion 2024 appropriation.
Although the first two were passed under the administration of late former President Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu extended their capital components initially to June and later to December 2024, even as the 2024 budget was already in operation.
A similar pattern continued in 2025, with the capital component of the 2024 budget extended twice, first to June 2025 and subsequently to December 2025.
As a result, the country is currently implementing two budgets concurrently: the extended 2024 budget and the 2025 budget estimated at N54.2 trillion, which lawmakers increased by N7 billion from the President’s original proposal.
In his letter, Tinubu said the new bill is intended to halt the cycle of multiple budget implementations, which he noted often complicates fiscal planning and delays the execution of capital projects.
He said the legislation would help achieve significantly improved performance levels for the 2024 and 2025 capital budgets, signalling a shift toward a more capital-driven expenditure framework.
The President explained that the bill also provides a transparent and constitutionally sound mechanism for consolidating and appropriating urgent expenditures incurred in response to emergencies, including spending related to national security and public welfare, while maintaining fiscal discipline.
According to Tinubu, the proposed law strengthens accountability by mandating that appropriated funds are released and utilised strictly for the purposes approved by the National Assembly.
Any virement or alteration of approved spending, he said, would require prior legislative consent.
He added that the bill establishes provisions for correcting genuine errors through corrigenda, requires separate documentation of excess revenues, restricts their expenditure to National Assembly approval, and mandates periodic reporting on fund releases and revenues generated by government agencies.
Tinubu urged lawmakers to give the bill expedited consideration, stressing its importance to improving budget discipline, transparency and effective implementation of government programmes.
