The National Assembly on Thursday passed the 2025 Appropriation Bill of N54.99tn, allocating N14.32tn for debt servicing and N13.64tn for recurrent expenditure covering salaries, overheads, and government operations.

Economists and members of the Organised Private Sector commended the government for the budget but expressed reservations regarding how it would be funded.

They praised it as necessary for economic growth but decried the cost of financing and how it posed the risk of heightened inflation.

The budget was passed following the concurrence on the bill by the Senate and House of Representatives during their separate plenary.

The lawmakers approved N23.96tn for capital projects under the development fund aimed at infrastructure growth and economic expansion while N344.85bn was allocated to the National Assembly.

The initial proposal of N54.2tn was increased by N700bn by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

This was a sequel to the adoption of the report of the Committee of Supply in both chambers of the National Assembly.

In the reviewed budget estimates, statutory transfers account for N3.655tn, ensuring funding for constitutionally mandated entities.The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the budget’s passage after most senators supported it through voice votes.

The senators supported the budget passage after reviewing a report by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Adeola Olamilekan.

Olamilekan, while presenting the report, recommended that N3.6tn be approved for Statutory Transfers, N14.3tn for debt service, N23.9tn for capital expenditure, and N13.8tn for fiscal deficit.

This increase comes about a week after President Bola Tinubu requested an upward budget revision by N4.5tn. He increased it from its initial proposal of N49.7tn to N54.2tn.

In his letter to the National Assembly, the President explained that the increment was necessary due to additional revenue from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Customs Service, and other revenue-generating agencies in 2024.

According to the breakdown, the Federal Inland Revenue Service contributed N1.4tn, the Nigeria Customs Service N1.2tn, and other government-owned enterprises netted N1.8tn.

https://punchng.com/n54-99tn-budget-experts-list-funding-hurdles-as-debt-servicing-takes-n14tn/