Budget 2025: National Assembly Makes Adjustments, Cuts Capital Expenditure

The National Assembly reviewed the 2025 budget on Tuesday, making significant adjustments to the capital and recurrent expenditures. Despite the changes, the overall budget size remains unchanged at N54.99 trillion.

The lawmakers said the review became necessary following some errors in the passed budget.

Although the budget size remains N54.99tn, the capital expenditure was reduced by more than N500bn while the recurrent expenditure was increased by the same amount.

Moreso, at the plenary sessions, both the Senate and the House of Representatives effected corrections in the figures earlier passed for some of the ministries, departments and agencies, with some increasing, while others had a downward review.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Francis Waive (APC, Delta), who presented the motion for the review of the approved items said the action became necessary because “the Joint Appropriation Committee noticed errors in the figures earlier passed.”

“The final figure of N54.99tn as well as the statutory transfer of N3.64tn and N14.32tn remained unchanged, the recurrent (non-debt) expenditure of N13.56tn and capital budget of N23.44tn were affected,” he said.

In the document, the Ministries of Defence and Police Affairs, National Pension Commission, Universities Pensions, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (civilian pensions), Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate and a few other agencies had their budget estimates reduced.

Waive added that the Presidency, Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Office of the National Security Adviser, Office to the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Food Security, Works, Labour and Employment, Transportation, Innovation, Science and Technology, Education, Environment, Health and Social Welfare among others had their budget proposal increased for the 2025 fiscal year.

Furthermore, Waive stressed that it was the duty of the House to make the corrections identified in the document in the process of compilation by the Joint Committee, noting that the rescission and passage will not affect the N54.99tn budget size.