Senator representing Ekiti South and Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu has said the National Assembly will pass the N49.7 trillion 2025 Appropriation Bill soon
He stated while speaking with journalists on Monday.
Checks revealed that the Appropriations Committees of both Chambers of the National Assembly had concluded work on the Appropriation Bill after budget defense sessions with several Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Their report is expected to be laid separately on Tuesday for consideration by both chambers.
Further checks revealed that may however be aborted on Tuesday as plenary would be suspended upon resumption in honor of the late Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Oriyomi Adewunmi Onanuga.
Senator Adaramodu however confirmed that necessary deliberations leading to the passage of the Bill would be done, this week.
He said:”You know we are reconvening on the 4th which is Tuesday. So when we convene, we will be expecting the reports.
“So issues that the reports would generate will determine the day the budget will be passed.”
He, however, assured that the Parliament would do a thorough deliberations on the Appropriation Bill.
“It’s not going to be a graveyard silence. “The report would be laid on the floor and then we will ask questions from the Committee on Appropriation and the Committee on Finance.
“Thereafter the Senate would seek the concurrence of the House of Representatives and then the transmission to the presidency for assent. So, the Senate is expecting the report of the Committee on Appropriation on Tuesday.
“Immediately, it will be committed to the Committee of the Whole chamber whereby we pick the budget clause by clause, almost line by line.
“We may likely pass it but it depends on so many variables, like the report of the Appropriations Committee and then the exhaustive debate that we will have on the budget report thereafter.
“We want to do this budget thoroughly so that we will not be going back and forth on all these supplementary. We want to be thorough. We want to be thorough with it.”
He was however silent on the likely increase of the sum of the budget estimate from N49.7 trillion as he noted that it would depend on the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Appropriation.
“Even if the budget is N100 trillion agencies would still ask for further increase but when we look at the merit of it, then as submitted in the report of the Appropriation Committee and that of Finance, you know even when we are dealing with the budget we have to be mindful of the revenue to be generated by the federal government.”
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