By Abiola Olawale
President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has indicated that the Senate may receive and consider the report on the ₦54.2 trillion 2025 budget from its Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday, February 12, or Thursday, February 13, 2025, with the possibility of passing it into law this week.
This follows President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s request to increase the budget from ₦49.7 trillion to ₦54.2 trillion, citing additional revenue from agencies like the Federal Inland Revenue Service and Nigeria Customs Service.
Akpabio, during plenary on Tuesday emphasized the need for swift action on the 2025 budget.
He said: “You will observe that some of our colleagues are not in the chamber because they are finalising the 2025 Appropriation Bill, the report of which will possibly be laid before us tomorrow (Wednesday) or the day after (Thursday).
“We need to close early to allow for collective efforts in that direction for the final consideration and passage of the 2025 Appropriation Bill.
It would be recalled that the Senate and the House of Representatives had initially set January 31, 2025, as the deadline for passing the N49.7tn budget proposed by Tinubu.
However, both chambers postponed their Christmas and New Year resumption from January 31 to February 4, 2025.