The Senate and the House of Representatives on Thursday in their respective chambers passed the sum of N54,990,165,355,396.00 as aggregate expenditure of the federal government in the 2025 fiscal year.
The highlights of the amount for the senate include: N23,963,251,624,250.00 as Capital Expenditure, N14,317,142,689,548.00 for Debt Service, N13,064,009,682,673.00 for Recurrent and Non Debt Expenditure, and N3,645,761,358,925.00 for Statutory Transfers and Deficit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 1.52 percent.
Similarly, the House of Representatives on Thursday, approved the N54.99 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year, although with zero budgetary allocation for Minimum wage-related adjustments under the Service Wide Votes.
President Bola Tinubu had initially proposed a N49.7 trillion budget but later revised it to N54.2 trillion before seeking legislative approval.
A breakdown of the approved budget showed N3.645 trillion for statutory transfers, N14.317 trillion for debt servicing, N13.64 trillion for recurrent expenditure, and N23.963 trillion for capital expenditure (development fund), with a fiscal deficit put at N13.08 trillion.
Under the statutory transfers, National Judicial Council gets N521.626 billion, Niger Delta Development Commission gets N626.533 billion, South East Development Commission gets N140 billion, North West Development Commission gets N145.607 billion, South West Development Commission gets N140 billion, South-South Development Commission gets N140 billion, North Central Development Commission gets N140 billion, Universal Basic Education Commission gets N496.842 billion, National Assembly gets N344.853 billion, Public Complaint Commission gets N14.460 billion, Independent National Electoral Commission gets N140 billion, National Human Rights Commission gets N8 billion, North East Development Commission gets N240.988 billion while Basic Health Care Provision Fund gets N298.421 billion, respectively.
A breakdown of the N14.317 trillion total debt servicing showed that N7.191 trillion is for Domestic debts (including Ways and Means), N6.749 trillion is for foreign debts, and N377.299 billion is for sinking fundss to retire maturing promissory notes.
From the recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, Presidency gets N111.094 billion, Ministry of Defence gets N2.510 trillion, Ministry of Police Affairs gets N1.226 trillion, Ministry of Interior gets N658.586 billion, National Security Adviser gets N335.975 billion, Ministry of Education gets N1.159 trillion, Ministry of Youths gets N442.271 billion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs gets N286.887 billion, Information and National Orientation gets N75.887 billion, among others.
Under the Capital expenditure, Presidency gets N144.485 billion, Ministry of Defence gets N604.917 billion, National Security Adviser gets N316.864 billion, Secretary to the Government of the Federation gets N155.812 billion, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security gets N1.201 trillion, Ministry of Finance gets N892.939 billion, Ministry of Works gets N2.045 trillion, Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation gets N578.398 billion, FCTA gets N229.625 billion, Ministry of Education gets N953.931 billion, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare gets N1.154 trillion, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation gets N291.548 billion, among others.
Under the Multilateral/Bilateral loan funded projects, Ministry of Power gets N1.307 trillion, Ministry of Interior gets N400.630 billion, Ministry of Communications. Innovation and Digital Economy gets N400.630 billion, FCTA gets N235.369 billion, Ministry of Finance gets N236.657 billion, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security gets N208.466 billion, Ministry of Education gets N193.098 billion, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare gets N56.489 billion, among others.
Speaking during a media chat on the feat, Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Hon. Abubakar Bichi gave details of the increased allocations to critical sectors such as health, security, among others.
He said: “As you know the United States government has withdrawn its support for some countries in terms of providing health support, and Nigeria is among them, so the President proactively requested an addition of $200 million, which is about N300 billion, to cater that health sector for the people who have that challenge of tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, and polio.
“And also the executive proposals, if you look at the budget, you will see that it differs with N340 billion. So if you add it up it will give you like N640 billion.
“And also we have some genuine requests from some agencies like INEC, NFIU, DSS, and so on. So, that’s what makes it N700 billion additional.
“There are some critical projects, such as rail projects, road infrastructures, agriculture, as well as education. So that’s where the money will go.
“Before we increased the budget, we had a meeting with the Ministry of Finance, Nigerian Customs Service, FIRS, and they have confirmed to us that they will be able to come up with enough funding for the budget,” he noted.
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