The Senate has approved the sum of N54,990,165,355,396.00 as the total federal government expenditure for the 2025 fiscal year. Key components of the budget include:
*N23,963,251,624,250.00 for Capital Expenditure
*N14,317,142,689,548.00 allocated to Debt Service
*N13,064,009,682,673.00 for Recurrent and Non-Debt Expenditure
*N3,645,761,358,925.00 designated for Statutory Transfers
The budget also indicates a deficit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of 1.52 percent.
Following the presentation and consideration, the Senate adopted the recommendations of the Senate Committees on Appropriations.
Earlier, the House of Representatives on Thursday increased the 2025 budget of the federal government from N54.2 trillion to N54.99 trillion.
The president had submitted a budget of N49.7 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly in December for consideration but later requested an increase in the estimate to N54.2 trillion given additional revenue available to the government.
However, presenting the report of the House Committee on Appropriation for consideration, the Chairman of the Committee, Kabiru Abubakar Bichi said the joint Committee of the Senate and the House agreed on the figure after a series of meetings.
He revealed that after a joint meeting with revenue-generating agencies, the Committee realised the availability of additional revenue which it forwarded to the Executive to be included in the budget.
The additional revenue of N4.5 trillion from the increase in the aggregate budget which the president requested for.
The North Central Development Commission and South-South Development Commission were not budgeted for in the original budget received appropriation.
Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had its budget increased from N40 billion to N140 billion for its activities for 2025.
The Chairman of INEC had requested an increase of the budget of the commission to about N125 billion, saying the N40 billion being allocated to it did not take into consideration the new minimum wage and the activities of the commission for 2025.