Senate To Suspend Plenary For 2 Weeks To Scrutinise 2025 Budget
The Nigerian Senate has announced plans to suspend plenary for two weeks starting from January 14, 2025, to allow both chambers of the National Assembly to focus on committee-level considerations of the proposed N49.7 trillion 2025 budget.
Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, revealed this decision on Monday during a meeting with the chairmen of the Senate Standing Committees.
According to Adeola, January 9 has been designated as an open day for stakeholders’ inputs on the budget, including presentations from heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). Additionally, he stated that January 31 is tentatively set as the date for presenting reports on the 2025 Appropriation Bill to both the Senate and the House of Representatives at plenary, though this timeline could be adjusted depending on the progress of deliberations.
The budget process will follow this proposed timeline:
- January 9: Open day for stakeholder inputs.
- January 9–18: Budget defense sessions with MDAs.
- January 15–18: Submission of reports by various committees.
- January 19–30: Collation and review of reports by the Appropriations Committee.
- January 31: Tentative date for laying the final report before both the Senate and House.
Senator Adeola emphasized the need for thorough consideration despite the tight timeline and noted that the 31st of January is a tentative date for the final presentation of the report.
After addressing the press, Adeola and the committee chairmen held a closed-door session to strategize on the budget review process.
