Some members of the House of Representatives have expressed satisfaction with the 2025 Appropriation Bill of N47.9 trillion presented to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu yesterday.
In the 2025 budget, the sum of N4.90 trillion was allocated to Defence, N4.06 trillion to infrastructure, N2.48 trillion to health and N3.52 trillion to education, among others.
The lawmakers in their separate reactions after the presentation of the budget, described it as a ‘huge improvement’ on the 2024 budget.
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Defence, Benson Babajimi (APC-Lagos), said if well-implemented, the budget would meet the expectations of Nigerians.
“It is very ambitious, a huge improvement from last year’s budget. It shows the president is bold and a reformist.
“He wants to connect Nigeria with rail and roads; the Sokoto-Badagry expressway project is a game changer; that of Lagos-Calabar is a game changer as well.
“There is a huge improvement in security, budget, health and education. That shows somebody who has a mission and vision. The renewed hope infrastructure fund he spoke about also will take us to the next level.
“So we believe that it is a good budget and he has prayed for cooperation from the National Assembly.
“To ensure that, Senate President Godswill Akpabio emphatically said we will ensure that the budget is ruthlessly implemented; so we are hoping for a renewal of hope in 2025,” he said.
Abubakar Fulata (APC-Jigawa) also said that the assumptions in the budget were very satisfactory, except a few areas.
Fulata said the over N15 trillion set aside for debt servicing out of the entire sum was not very impressive.
He stated that the current price of crude oil hovered between $73 and $74 per barrel, with the budget predicated on $15 per barrel
“Already, we have a deficit of about $1.5 in each barrel. So I hope that we will be able to raise the money we are expecting.
“We also hope that there will be peace in the Niger Delta so that we will be able to get the 2.06 million barrels per day,” he said.
On his part, Idem Unyime (PDP-Akwa Ibom) noted that the January to December budget circle would not be realised.
He said though the budget was presented within the stipulated time, the Assembly could only consider it after the Christmas holidays.
Unyime said it would work on the budget and ensure its passage before the end of January 2025. (NAN)
