Babatunji Wusu –
There are strong indications that President Bola Tinubu may present the 2025 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly in the first week of December 2024. However, the Senate Committee on Finance, led by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), has made it clear that the timing of the budget’s presentation is solely at the discretion of the executive branch, under President Tinubu’s leadership.
Journalists, concerned about the delay in receiving the crucial budget document from the Presidency in November, recently queried Senator Musa about the expected timeline for its presentation. In his response, Musa emphasized that the executive branch holds the responsibility for determining the date, not the National Assembly.
He stated, “The executive is in charge of that decision, and they are actively working on it. As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, along with other members of the committee, we recently met with the Minister of Finance, the CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPCL), and other key officials to review the performance of the 2024 budget. The executive is certainly working on the 2025 budget, and they will forward it to us once it is completed.”
Traditionally, under the 9th National Assembly, the presentation of the budget estimates for the following fiscal year was done in the first week of October, after the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) had been thoroughly examined. These documents were typically submitted in September for scrutiny by the relevant committees.
It is worth noting that in 2023, President Tinubu presented the 2024 budget estimates to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 29, which led to a delay in the budget’s passage. The budget was approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives on December 30, 2023, and was signed into law on January 1, 2024.
Meanwhile, both Senator Musa and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, have expressed optimism about Nigeria’s economic reforms. Following a recent meeting, Musa reiterated his confidence in the Finance Minister’s assurances regarding the positive impact of the ongoing reforms. He highlighted that the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio is improving, and he expects to see tangible results in the coming months. “The positive indicators are already visible, and within the next 16 to 18 months, Nigerians will see the benefits of these reforms firsthand,” Musa said.
