2025 Budget: Senate suspends plenary as MDAs begin defence before NASS committees

Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government are set to commence the defence of their 2025 budget allocations today before the joint committees of the Senate and House of Representatives.

The budget defence process is scheduled to run until January 18, 2025, after which the Appropriation Committees of both chambers will finalize the details and prepare a clean copy of the budget for passage. The National Assembly has earmarked January 31 as the deadline for passing the 2025 Appropriation Bill.

To incorporate public input, a retreat focused on the Appropriation Bill, which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presented on December 18, 2024, is planned for Thursday.

Although plenary sessions are set to resume on January 14 following the holiday break, lawmakers are expected to take a two-week hiatus from plenary to focus solely on budgetary activities.

The chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriation Committees, Senator Olamilekan Adeola and Abubakar Bichi, respectively, unveiled the timeline and processes leading to the budget passage during a briefing yesterday.

Senator Adeola said: “The President laid the budget before the Senate on December 18, 2024, and the second reading was done on December 19, 2024.

“From there, it was transmitted to the Committee on Appropriation to carry out all other necessary actions.

“The first thing we have succeeded in doing is to ensure that the hardcopy of this document was given to all committee chairmen as their working document.

“This is to enable the committees to invite all the MDAs to defend whatever has been allocated to them in that document, starting with their personnel, overhead, and capital, after which, we are expecting the report back from the 15th of January to the 18th of January.

“From there, collation and tidying up of the document will commence with the Committee on Appropriation, and by 31st of January, it is expected that we should lay before the National Assembly the report of the Committee on Appropriation on the 2025 Appropriation Bill for its eventual passage by the National Assembly, that is, both chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives.”

Adeola assured that the committees would work hard to get the job done on schedule.

He said: “This (yesterday) morning, we held a meeting with all members of the Committee on Appropriation.

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“There is a need for us to understand the direction in which we are going as far as the 2025 Appropriation Bill is concerned.

“The time frame is short but we have no choice but to work hard and that is why I must thank all my colleagues who agreed with us to shelve their holidays so that we can commence work on this all-important document.

“We will do that with all vigour and ensure that all that needs to be done on this document must be done.

“So, the 31st of January is a tentative date to guide our workings. If there is a need to extend the passage beyond the 31st of January, we will not hesitate to do that.

“But for us to have a working document that works for everybody, we have put it that the 31st of January is a date for us to pass it.

“I know for a fact that by the time we resume on the 14th of January, the Senate will give a two-week break so that we can do our usual ritual of consultation with the MDAs for the next two weeks and then follow up with a report.

“We are open as a committee and we are ready to work together and ensure that whatever issues are raised on the document, we are available to listen and to do all that is necessary to ensure that we have a document that works for all Nigerians.

“Also, the Committee on Appropriation will be organising a budget retreat on Thursday so that all relevant stakeholders can have an insight into the real content of the document.

“We want to have a synopsis of ideas of what is contained in that document for the benefit of Nigerians and that will come up on Thursday.

“We are working seriously to ensure that it’s a date and a very wonderful day in that regard.”

Bichi told reporters after the inaugural meeting of his committee that the defence by the MDAs would last till January 17.

He added that harmonised reports from the MDAs would be laid at plenary on January 31.

The committee chair said: “By tomorrow (today), we will start the budget defence with all the MDAs.

“From tomorrow (today) to January 17, we are going to do our budget defence and we will likely harmonise on January 22 and God’s willing, by January 31, we are going to lay our reports.

“We are going to study the budget; all our committees will study the budget.”