Ahead of 2025 budget defense by Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA’S) the National Assembly begins deliberations on the N49.7 trillion 2025 budget at the committee level this week, the Senate announced on Monday that it would suspend plenary sessions for two weeks starting January 14, 2025.
The Senate has also scheduled Thursday, January 11, as an open day for budget consideration, inviting input from various stakeholders, including MDAs.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, made this announcement during a meeting with the chairpersons of other standing committees in the Senate.
He added that the tentative date for presenting the Appropriation Bill reports to both chambers of the National Assembly is January 31, 2025.
Speaking at the meeting, which included Senate principal officers such as Deputy Leader Senator Lola Ashiru (APC, Kwara South) and Senate Whip Senator Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North), Senator Adeola acknowledged the tight timeline for budget review and passage but emphasized the importance of thorough deliberations.
“Before this meeting with committee chairpersons, the Appropriations Committee met extensively to strategize on the best approach for the 2025 budget, which was presented to the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, by President Bola Tinubu and passed for second reading in both chambers the following day,” Adeola stated.
“To facilitate a comprehensive review, hard copies of the budget proposal have been distributed to all committee chairpersons as reference materials for budget defense sessions with MDAs under their purview,” he added.
Proposed Timeline for Budget Review
Senator Adeola outlined the proposed timeline for budget consideration:
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January 9, 2025: Budget defense sessions begin at the committee level.
January 15–18, 2025: Submission of committee reports.
January 19–30, 2025: Collation and finalization of the budget by the Appropriations Committee.
January 31, 2025: Tentative date for laying the final report before the Senate.
“While January 31 is the target for presenting the final budget report, it remains a tentative date, serving as a guideline for our work schedule,” Adeola clarified.
Following his remarks, the Appropriations Committee entered a closed-door session with chairpersons of the Senate’s standing committees to finalize preparations for the budget review process.
