The 2024 budget has passed second reading at the Senate.
The senators voted to pass the appropriation bill on Friday after debating its general principles for two days.
President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, presented the budget of N27.5 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly.
The proposed budget passed first reading at the Senate and House of Representatives shortly after the session.
The two chambers of the National Assembly commenced debate on the general principles of the bill on Wednesday.
Debate
When the debate resumed on Friday, Salihu Mustapha (APC, Kwara Central) urged President Tinubu to prioritise agriculture in 2024.
He called for local manufacturing of agricultural products in the country.
“In lending my voice to the beautiful encomiums on the budget. I would like to draw our attention to agriculture. We must pay more attention to ensure that agriculture takes a better place in this budget. Let us look into skill acquisition, so we can produce what we eat,” Mr Mustapha said.
Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West) argued that the proposed budget does not indicate interest of the federal government on construction of roads.
Mr Dickson, a former governor of Bayelsa State, urged lawmakers to allocate more funds for the construction of roads in the country. He also called for the completion of the East-West road in the Niger Delta.
“This government by what they have presented is not committed to road projects. This National Assembly should use its powers to provide more funds to complete the East-West road.”
He also advised President Tinubu to fund the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
“I want to call on Mr President to use this budget to fund the NDDC. But in all, the budget is an ambitious one.”
Emmanuel Udende (APC, Benue North-east) said the sectoral allocations in the budget are better than previous budgets presented by former presidents.
“There are more merits in the budget than demerits. The percentage allocated to capital is better than the last,” Mr Udende said.
Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia South) said the proposed budget does not address challenges of the power sector.
“The budget does not have anything without power. In the main budget itself, what was put for power was just three per cent of the total percent of the budget,” he said.
After the debate, the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary, put it to vote for the second reading. Majority of the senators voted in support through voice vote.
Mr Jibrin thereafter referred the budget to the Senate Committee on Appropriation for further legislative action. He also directed the committee to report back to the upper chamber on 19 December.
2024 budget passes second reading in House of Representatives
The House of Representatives has passed, for a second reading, the 2024 Appropriations bill after a two-day debate on the general principle of the legislation.
The budget scaled the legislative step on Friday during a special plenary session.
President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, presented the 2024 money bill to the joint session of the National Assembly.
On Thursday, the House commenced the debate on the bill. After about two hours of debate, the Speaker of the House, Abbas Tajudeen, announced a special session to be held on Friday to conclude the debate.
The 2024 budget proposal has an aggregate expenditure of N27.5 trillion. A recurrent expenditure will gulp N9.92 trillion, capital expenditure is N8.7trn, deficit projected at N9.18trn and debt servicing will gulp N8.25 trillion.
The budget deficit is projected at N9.18 trillion in 2024 or 3.88 per cent of GDP. This is lower than the N13.78 trillion deficit recorded in 2023 which represents 6.11 per cent of GDP.
The education sector has been allocated N2.18 trillion, out of which the Ministry of Education and its agencies got N1.23 trillion, N251.4 billion to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and N700 billion to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to provide infrastructure project for tertiary education.
Also, the health sector has been allocated N1.33 trillion. The Ministry of Health and its agencies got N1.07 trillion, GAVI immunisation got N137.2 billion and N125.7 billion as statutory transfer to the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund.
Meanwhile, the defence sector got 12 per cent of the entire budget which is N3.25 trillion and infrastructure is N1.32 trillion.
Also Read: 2024 Budget Presentation: President Tinubu’s full speech at National Assembly
Following the conclusion of the debate, Speaker Tajudeen announced that the Appropriations Committee would meet after the plenary session.
The Deputy House Leader, Ali Halims, moved a motion for the adjournment of the House till 12 December to allow committees to interface with relevant MDAs.
The motion for adjournment was carried unanimously by the House.
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