Key Points

• Revised federal budgets raise total spending levels.

• Debt service and capital allocations increased.

• Extended timeline targets better budget execution.

Nigeria’s House of Representatives has approved revised federal budgets for 2024 and 2025, lifting total spending to ₦43.56 trillion and ₦48.31 trillion respectively.

The approvals followed the adoption of reports from the House Committee on Appropriations after clause by clause consideration by the Committee of Supply. The sessions were presided over by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, who oversaw the third reading and final passage at plenary.

Lawmakers said the revised figures reflect updated fiscal assumptions, revenue constraints, and the need to address gaps in earlier spending frameworks.

Revised federal budgets detail spending structure

The revised federal budgets show significant allocations across statutory transfers, debt servicing, recurrent expenditure, and capital spending. For the 2024 fiscal year, ₦1.74 trillion was approved for statutory transfers, while ₦8.27 trillion was set aside for debt servicing.

Recurrent non debt expenditure was pegged at ₦11.26 trillion, with ₦22.27 trillion allocated to capital expenditure and development fund contributions. The revised 2024 budget is expected to cover the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.

For 2025, lawmakers approved ₦3.64 trillion for statutory transfers and ₦14.31 trillion for debt service. Recurrent non debt spending was set at ₦13.58 trillion, while capital expenditure through development fund contributions amounted to ₦16.76 trillion.

Presidency explains revised federal budgets rationale

The passage followed the transmission of the Appropriation Repeal and Re enactment Bills for both years by President Bola Tinubu. The bills repealed earlier appropriation acts and replaced them with updated spending frameworks.

Tinubu said the revisions were required to accommodate budget items that were not previously captured and to recalibrate capital implementation targets. He said that the new framework sets a more realistic capital implementation benchmark of 30 percent.

The president said that capital budget execution was still a problem, which had made it harder to build and deliver infrastructure across the country.

The goal of the extended budget timeline is to carry out the plan

The new 2025 budget will last until March 31, 2026. Tinubu said this would give Ministries, Departments, and Agencies more time to access and use capital releases.

He said that the longer timeline is part of a larger set of fiscal reforms that are meant to fix problems with Nigeria’s budgeting process. He also said that the goal of the approach is to stop the practice of having multiple budgets that overlap.

Government officials think that better planning, clearer timelines, and stronger oversight could make public spending more open, accountable, and cost-effective.