The two chambers of the National Assembly will hold an emergency session on Thursday to extend the capital aspect of the Appropriations Act of 2023 and the Supplemental Appropriations Act to surpass the June 30 expiration date.
The Senate and House of Representatives have cut short their Eid Kabir vacation to meet in Abuja to approve the request of President Bola Tinubu, who cannot wait until his July 2 resumption date.
Lawmakers were initially scheduled to resume on Tuesday.
PREMIUM TIMES has learned that lawmakers have been called again to extend the life of the two laws, which are set to expire on Sunday.
The plan is to extend the execution of the two budgets until December 31, 2024.
The two bills are listed in the order document as items one and two for consideration:
1. A bill to amend the Appropriations Act of 2023, to further extend the implementation of the capital aspect of the Appropriations Act of 2023 from June 30, 2024 to December 31, 2024.
Article page with financial support promotion
2. A bill to amend the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023, to further extend its implementation from June 30, 2024 to December 31, 2024, and for related matters.
They are expected to go through the first, second, supply committee and third reading.
This would be the third time that the current administration has extended both laws.
Legacy budgets
President Tinubu inherited the N21.8 trillion budget from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the capital component of the budget took a hit during the transition period, as most projects in the 2023 budget were not funded while the new administration was installed.
Tinubu also inherited the N819 billion 2022 supplementary budget from the last administration.
In July 2023, the President sent an amendment to the National Assembly to amend the N819 billion budget.
The amendment included a N70 billion package for the National Assembly and N500 billion for palliative and other capital expenditure to cushion the effect of the recent fuel subsidy removal policy.
In October 2023, Tinubu submitted a supplementary budget of N2.17 trillion for 2023 to the National Assembly for approval. According to the president, most of the budget items were meant to combat insecurity.
However, a review of the budget by PREMIUM TIMES revealed some frivolous items.
For example, N28 billion was allocated to purchase luxury cars for the President and First Lady, and to renovate the President’s residence, among other items for the State House. N5 billion was also allocated to the presidential yacht, which was the subject of controversy.
Meanwhile, a large portion of the N2.17 trillion was allocated to the security sector.
Previous amendments
The Laws were first extended on December 31, 2023 for a period of three months. They were extended until March 30, 2024.
The extension followed a request by President Tinubu in a letter addressed to both chambers of the National Assembly.
Shortly before the expiration date, the president submitted another request to extend both budgets through June 30, 2024, which lawmakers quickly approved.
In the House, the bills passed through all three stages on the same day.
In the Senate, the request won the same quick approval. Senate Vice President Barau Jibrin, who chaired the session, stated that the extension was necessary to avoid abandoned projects in the country.
“The request came from the president today. Passing this is very necessary so that the capital component of the 2023 Appropriations Act can be fully implemented.
“If we do not do so, we will create space for abandoned projects. Therefore, we urge ministries and contractors to speed up all projects that are being implemented across the country,” said the Senate Vice President during the last request.
Defense procurement
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the move to expand the two budgets is to allow some agencies that have just started the procurement process to complete it.
According to some sources, security agencies have just started receiving procurement funding and could be affected if the budget is allowed to expire on Sunday.
For example, the Ministry of Defense has N476 billion in the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget, while police formations and commands have N50 billion there.
The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the State Security Services (SSS) have N29.7 billion and N49 billion respectively.
Meanwhile, if this budget is extended, the country will run three budgets until the end of the 2024 financial cycle.