In a significant move aimed at salvaging ongoing federal projects, the Nigerian Senate has pushed the deadline for implementing the capital portion of the 2024 national budget to December 31, 2025.
The resolution was passed on Tuesday during plenary after lawmakers swiftly amended and approved the appropriation bill.
Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session, confirmed the bill’s passage after it sailed through its first, second, and third readings in a single sitting.
Senator Olamilekan Adeola, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, led discussions and justified the extension by pointing to ongoing financial limitations and the need to prevent the abandonment of critical national projects.
“This extension is a practical necessity,” he said. “Without it, vital infrastructure initiatives already underway may be left incomplete.”
Previously, the capital implementation timeline had been shifted from December 2024 to June 2025 following a request by President Bola Tinubu.
He had argued that the executive arm needed more time to effectively utilise capital allocations.
Despite that initial shift, many government-funded projects remain unfinished, prompting this latest adjustment.
The Senate’s Committee on Supply had earlier reviewed and endorsed the bill before it reached the floor.
The extension means Nigeria is concurrently running both the 2024 and 2025 budgets, an uncommon scenario in its fiscal history.
Public reactions remain mixed. Some critics interpret the repeated extensions as evidence of inadequate execution by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), while others believe it is a pragmatic step to ensure public funds are not wasted and essential infrastructure is completed.