BREAKING: Tinubu Presents N27.5 2024 Trillion Appropriation Bill Before National Assembly

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday presented the 2024 Appropriation Bill before the joint session of the National Assembly.

The president seeks to spend N27.5 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year, which he urged the National Assembly to consider and pass accordingly.

The budget is Tinubu’s first budget since his election and inauguration as president on May 29.

The budget is N7 trillion higher than the record N20.5 trillion budget presented before the joint session of the National Assembly in 2022 by his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari, who left office on May 29.

Details later…

The President commended the members of the National Assembly for their swift consideration and passage of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bills and the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper and tapped them for a close working relationship for “greater welfare of our people” based on the ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’.

He said, “We do not serve ourselves,” stressing, “We must always strive to work together to serve and benefit the people of our beloved country.”

He expressed confidence that “the National Assembly will continue to work closely with us to ensure that deliberations on the 2024 Budget are thorough but also concluded with reasonable dispatch,” which he said should be by January 1st 2024.

The president doubled down on his policy from day one when he took over from Muhammadu Buhari noting, “It is, by now, a matter of recorded history that my very first fiscal intervention as President of this great nation was to end the fuel subsidy regime which had proven to be so harmful to the overall health of our national economy.

“The second was to negotiate and subsequently present a supplementary budget to enable my government to fund the items needed to restore macro-economic stability and mitigate the harsh impact of subsidy removal.

“The third was to secure a second supplementary budget, this time to enable us to keep our promises to promote national security, invest in infrastructure and provide much needed support to the most vulnerable households in our society.”

He reminisced that, “In swearing-in my cabinet and reflecting on the unique challenges facing us, I invited the Ministers to imagine that we are attempting to draw water from a dry well.

“Today, I stand before you to present our Budget of Renewed Hope; a budget which will go further than ever before in cementing macro-economic stability, reducing the deficit, increasing capital spending and allocation to reflect the eight priority areas of this Administration.

“The budget we now present constitutes the foundation upon which we shall erect the future of this great nation,” the president said.

He said the economic conditions remain challenging both in Nigeria and everywhere else identifying that there existed positive hope for global economic growth which he said should be around 3.0 per cent in 2024.

He said despite lingering post-covid supply and production bottlenecks, armed conflict in various parts of the world and restrictive monetary policies in major economies, the prognosis for global economic growth will have profound ramifications for Nigeria due to the country’s reliance on importation.

Yet, he pointed that despite the global headwinds, the Nigerian economy has proven resilient, maintaining modest but positive growth over the past twelve months.

He blamed the country’s upward trend of inflation on weak global conditions, which has given rise to rising domestic upswing in prices and presented an economic containment strategy which he said required “effective coordination of fiscal and monetary policy measures, and collaborate with sub-national governments” to address those structural factors driving inflation in the country.

Sounding bullish, the president said the “budget proposal meets our goal of completing critical infrastructure projects which will help address structural problems in the economy by lowering the costs of doing business for companies and the cost of living for the average person.”

The president promised that, “Our government remains committed to broad-based and shared economic prosperity.

“We are reviewing social investment programmes to enhance their implementation and effectiveness.”

In particular, he said the National Social Safety Net project will be expanded to provide targeted cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households.

The president also said efforts will be made to graduate existing beneficiaries toward productive activities and employment.

He charged the National Assembly to conduct the budget estimate process in a way that will sustain “our desired return to a predictable January-December fiscal year.”

He further challenged members of the National Assembly to “be guided by the interest of all Nigerians.

“We must ensure that only projects and programs with equitable benefits are allowed into the 2024 Budget.

“Additionally, only projects and programs which are in line with the sectoral mandates of MDAs and which are capable of realising the vision of our Government should be included in the budget.”

He stressed that the government is committed to improving the lot of Nigerians and delivering on the promises made during the 2023 electios.

He added that the 2024 Budget has the potential to boost performance, promote the development of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, enhance security and public safety, and improve the general living conditions of the people.

He expressed confidence that the budgetary allocations and directives will set Nigeria on a transformative path towards a sustainable and resilient energy future, fostering economic growth, job creation, and environmental preservation.