News Editor
By David Odama
Senate, again on Tuesday, approved the extension of the capital component of the 2024 national budget implementation deadline from June 30, 2025 to December 31.
The decision reached during the day’s plenary, followed the presentation and passage of a Bill to amend the 2024 Appropriation Act for the first, second and third readings.
The Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau announced the extension of the Appropriation Bill after the chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Ogun West) led debate on the piece of legislation.
Adeola explained that the extension was required to allow the federal government to complete ongoing projects captured in the budget,
He also said the Nigerian government does not have enough resources to capture the expenditures proposed in the budget.
Adeola, therefore, urged his colleagues to support the extension of the budget in order to avoid abandoned projects of the federal government in different parts of the country.
According to him, the additional time is necessary to enable the Federal Government to complete several ongoing projects captured under the 2024 budget.
He also cited revenue constraints, noting that limited fiscal resources had delayed execution of various capital projects.
“We must not allow these important national projects to be abandoned due to time constraints. Extending the implementation period will ensure value for money and improved service delivery,” Adeola stressed.
This is the second time the Senate is extending the capital implementation phase of the 2024 budget.
The initial extension followed a request from President Bola Tinubu, who in December 2024, wrote to the National Assembly seeking approval to shift the capital expenditure implementation deadline from December 31, 2024 to June 30, 2025.
The president’s justification at the time was to enable the executive arm to complete ongoing capital projects and optimise budgetary allocations.
Both chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives granted the extension then..
