NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the Senate on Tuesday granted a fresh extension for the implementation of the capital component of the 2024 national budget, moving the deadline from June 30, 2025 to December 31, 2025.
This marks the second time the Red Chamber is extending the lifespan of the 2024 capital budget, citing the need to allow the federal government to complete ongoing infrastructure projects nationwide.
The decision followed the consideration and expeditious passage of an amended appropriation bill during plenary. The bill underwent its first, second, and third readings in one sitting, and was adopted after deliberation by the Senate Committee on Supply.
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Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over Tuesday’s session, formally announced the passage of the extension bill.
Leading the debate, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and representative of Ogun West Senatorial District, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, explained that the extension became necessary due to the government’s limited financial capacity.
He told lawmakers that several capital projects captured in the 2024 budget risked abandonment without additional time to access and utilise allocated funds.
Adeola said, “The federal government does not have enough resources to capture all proposed expenditures at once. This extension will help ensure ongoing projects are completed and not abandoned.”
He urged his colleagues to support the measure to prevent wastage of public funds and stalled development.
The capital component of the 2024 budget was originally scheduled to expire on December 31, 2024, but was extended to June 30, 2025, following a request by President Bola Tinubu.
At the time, the President explained that the extension would allow the executive arm to complete critical infrastructure and fully utilise budgetary allocations.
That request was approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives after extensive debate on the impact of project delays and bureaucratic bottlenecks.
With the latest extension now pushing the deadline to the end of December 2025, Nigeria is officially operating two overlapping budgets: the 2024 budget, still under implementation, and the 2025 budget, which has already been passed and is currently in effect.
This dual-budget scenario raises questions about project tracking, fund disbursement, and transparency in execution, especially in the face of fiscal constraints.