The Senate failed to meet the deadline for the passage of the 2024 budget proposed by President Bola Tinubu on Saturday, December 23, 2023, as originally scheduled. The Appropriation Committee’s plan to present the budget on Thursday was also deferred due to several committees not meeting the Wednesday deadline set by the committee in its timetable.
Senator Olamilekan Adeola, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, revealed that the committee had only attended to 48 out of the expected committee budget defenses by 11:45 pm on Wednesday. He declared that any committee unable to present its report by the following day would risk being disregarded, citing negligence as the cause.
President Bola Tinubu had presented a N27.5tn budget to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023, outlining a deficit of N9.18tn for the 2024 fiscal year. However, the Senate has yet to fulfill the budget’s passage, despite passing it for a second reading on December 1, 2023.
While 54 committees have submitted and defended their reports, 11 committees have submitted reports but are awaiting their budget defense. Notably, the Senate Committee on Defence and the Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare are among those yet to submit their reports.
The Senate’s plenary has been adjourned until Friday, December 29, 2023, with an appeal from the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, urging committees to promptly submit their reports to the Appropriation committees.
