The Senate has identified and rectified errors in the 2025 Appropriations Bill, which was approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives last Thursday.
The discrepancies were uncovered during the final review and realignment process by the Joint Committee on Appropriations.
The corrections mainly impacted allocations for recurrent expenditure, pensions, and capital projects. Some of the key revisions include:
- Ministry of Defence: Adjusted from ₦2.51 trillion to ₦2.49 trillion
- Ministry of Police Affairs: Changed from ₦1.225 trillion to ₦1.224 trillion
- Total Pensions, Gratuity, and Retirement Benefits: Raised from ₦950 billion to ₦1.44 trillion
- Military Pensions and Gratuities: Revised from ₦252.6 billion to ₦383.9 billion
- National Pension Commission (PENCOM): Increased from ₦529.4 billion to ₦804.7 billion
Similarly, capital allocations were also corrected, including reductions in the budgets for key ministries:
- Presidency: Reduced from ₦144.4 billion to ₦142.7 billion
- Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security: Adjusted from ₦1.95 trillion to ₦1.83 trillion
- Federal Ministry of Works: Revised from ₦2.04 trillion to ₦2 trillion
- Federal Ministry of Education: Reduced from ₦953.9 billion to ₦944.6 billion
Despite these adjustments, the overall budget size remains ₦54.99 trillion, with no changes to the allocations for Statutory Transfers (₦3.64 trillion) and Debt Service (₦14.31 trillion).
However, the corrections resulted in an increase in Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure to ₦13.58 trillion, while Capital Expenditure was reduced to ₦23.43 trillion.
Referring to Orders 1(B) and 52(6) of the Senate Standing Orders (2023, as amended), the Senate has resolved to rescind its previous decision on the affected line items and the bill’s long title, and to send the corrected bill back to the Committee of Supply for reconsideration and passage.
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaihFajBadmT29ufud2Z
