Reps To Begin 2025 Budget Defence On Tuesday, Target End Of January Passage

The House of Representatives will commence the defence of the 2025 appropriation bill by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) on Tuesday, according to the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi.

Bichi disclosed this on Monday after a meeting with statutory committee chairmen at the House of Representatives. He added that the House aims to pass the budget before the end of January 2025.

President Bola Tinubu presented the ₦49.7 trillion budget proposal for 2025 to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, with significant allocations to defence, security, infrastructure, health, and education.

“This budget, titled ‘The Restoration Budget’, is aimed at securing peace and building prosperity,” President Tinubu said during his 30-minute address to lawmakers.

Key Budget Allocations:

– Defence and Security: ₦4.91 trillion

– Infrastructure: ₦4.06 trillion

– Health: ₦2.4 trillion

– Education: ₦3.5 trillion

Bichi assured Nigerians that the House was committed to a thorough and timely consideration of the appropriation bill, emphasizing its importance in driving national development.

The budget defence process will involve MDAs justifying their allocations and planned expenditures for the fiscal year, a critical step in finalizing the national budget.

In a related development, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Adeola Olamilekan, announced January 31, 2025, as the tentative date for the passage of the ₦49.7tn 2025 budget.

Naija News reports that this comes as the committee prepares to commence budget defence sessions on Tuesday.