On Friday, there were indications that the National Assembly is set to approve the 2024 Appropriation Bill, amounting to N27.5tn, on Tuesday, December 19.
Earlier in the day, both the Senate and the House of Representatives gave the ‘Renewed Hope’ budget unanimous approval during its second reading.
During the plenary session, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau suggested that the lawmakers might pass the budget on December 19 before their Christmas and New Year break.
While applauding President Bola Tinubu’s positive intentions for the country, some senators expressed dissatisfaction with the executive’s failure to provide detailed budget information during Friday’s deliberations.
Following a voice vote by Barau, who presided over the session, the budget moved to the Committee on Appropriations after securing approval for the second reading.
“The budget is hereby referred to the Committee on Appropriations and the committee is mandated to submit the report to this chamber on December 19,” Barau stated.
The President had on Wednesday presented to a joint session of the National Assembly the budget, which he named, ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’.
He said the deficit would represent 3.88 per cent of the country’s total Gross Domestic Product.
Tinubu stated, “The N9.18tn deficit is lower than the N13.78tn deficit recorded in 2023, which represented 6.11 per cent of the GDP.
“The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totalling N7.83tn; N298.49bn from privatisation proceeds and N1.05tn drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.”
He added that his administration would limit the inflation rate to 21.4 per cent in 2024, adding that tax and fiscal policies were currently being reviewed.
“Our target is to increase the ratio of revenue to GDP from less than 10 per cent currently to 18 per cent within the term of this administration,” the President added.
To fund the budget, he stated that fresh loans would be collected, while the government would also explore public-private partnership arrangements to finance critical infrastructure.
Commenting on the budget, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said it would be financed with less deficit than the situation in the past.
He said, “So, there will definitely be fresh loans, and if those loans are maturing, they will be financed.
“And as always, you’re not going to be financing all the loans from the revenue; so, they will be fresh loans
“There will be continuous reliance on loans, but less so. The important thing is that the size of the budget that is being relied on from borrowing is downsized.”
Contributing to the debate on Friday, Senator Babangida Hussaini (All Progressives Congress, Jigawa North West), raised the issue of insecurity in the country, tracing it back to a lack of unemployment for citizens.
According to him, it is a necessity to work on the skills of unemployed youths and create jobs for them.
“Unemployment is a common problem in this country; we must find jobs for these youths. Sometimes there are jobs but no skills, so we should step up to look into the skills of these youths. We must also step up our legislative functions of oversight,” Hussaini stated.
