Twenty-four hours after President Bola Tinubu presented the 2025 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly, the House of Representatives has passed the appropriation bill for first and second reading.
The bill scaled second reading on Thursday following the debate on the general principles, with several lawmakers taking turns to speak.
It would be recalled that Tinubu presented the N49.7 trillion budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday.
In his contribution, the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda slammed most of the projections in the budget, including the oil production, inflation rate and the estimated revenue.
He stated that there is nothing to support most of the optimism in the budget. According to him, the budget looks great on paper but the main problem is implementation.
The same view was expressed by the Minority Whip, George Ozodinobi, who questioned the planned inflation reduction in the bill. He added that South-East region was neglected once again.
Bello El-Rufai called for the implementation of the Oronsaye’s report on cutting down cost of governance.
He also frowned at the the annual procurement of office equipment, vehicles and spoons. According to him, there is no need to buy some of those items annually.
Following the debates, the House adopted the bill and referred it to the Committee on Appropriations.
Meanwhile, the House also extended the capital component of the 2024 budget till June.
24 hours after presentation, Reps pass budget for first, second readings
