In an official announcement, it has been revealed that President Bola Tinubu will present the highly anticipated 2024 budget to the National Assembly within the next two weeks. Additionally, a supplementary budget for 2023 will also be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola, made this announcement during the inaugural meeting of the committee. Senator Adeola emphasized the National Assembly’s commitment to ensuring that the 2024 budget is passed before December 31, 2024.
During the meeting, Senator Adeola acknowledged that the change in government on May 29 had caused some delays. He stated, “There is a teething problem because there is a change of government. The new administration has a new mantra that encapsulates its vision and there must be challenges.”
Despite the delay in the submission of the 2024 budget, Senator Adeola assured that the committee would conduct a thorough review. He said, “Our job is to verify the budget to meet the expectations of the people. We will look into it thoroughly.”
Furthermore, Senator Adeola expressed his belief that there is no such thing as “budget padding.” He clarified, “A budget has to do with the nomination of projects to the budget document that will meet the yearnings and the needs of the people; I would not regard that as padding. It is still part of a government document.”
The Chairman of the Appropriation Committee also emphasized the importance of a budget focused on infrastructure and serving the needs of the people. He stated, “We won’t support a government where 72% of the budget will be spent on the cost of running the government and only 28 percent will now be spent on driving infrastructure. We will rather prefer a budget that 55 to 60% is spent on driving infrastructure to the people and 40% is spent on the budget.”
Senator Adeola noted that key figures such as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Wale Edun, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, will appear before the committee to discuss the action plan on the economy and budgeting process, as well as how the National Assembly and the executive will collaborate in the coming years.
With the assurance that the National Assembly is committed to a timely budget cycle, Nigerians can expect the presentation and review of the 2024 budget to proceed diligently and transparently, keeping the nation’s interests at the forefront.
