House Explains Repeal, Re-enactment of 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts

The House of Representatives has explained that the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts was necessitated by the need to align Nigeria’s budgeting system with global best practices, enhance transparency, and ease implementation challenges.

Deputy Spokesperson of the House, Hon. Philip Agbese, disclosed this while speaking in an interview on Friday, noting that the decision was taken to strengthen accountability across all levels of government and reduce the oversight burden associated with budget execution.

According to him, the move will streamline Nigeria’s fiscal process by creating a more coherent and predictable funding framework.

“Basically, it is to align the nation’s budgeting system with global and international best practices. It is also to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels, and to lessen the burden of oversight during implementation,” Agbese said.

He explained that the repeal and re-enactment would pave the way for the adoption of a single national budget cycle after March 31, 2026, a development he described as crucial for seamless budget execution by the Executive arm of government.

Agbese commended the House Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Hon. Abubakar Bichi, for its diligence and swift handling of the re-enactment bill transmitted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He noted that the committee’s prompt work made it possible for the House to consider and pass the bill before proceeding on the Christmas and New Year recess.

According to him, the committee’s efforts have also helped address the long-standing challenge of running multiple budgets concurrently, a practice he said often results in fiscal confusion and the dissipation of government resources across numerous projects, leading to poor outcomes.

The lawmaker observed that the abysmally low performance of the 2025 capital budget was largely due to the existence of multiple budgets.

“By adopting a single budget after March 31, 2026, the Executive will be able to execute the budget without much hassle. When there is a single funding system, it becomes easier to manage cash flow and ensure timely releases,” he added.

Agbese also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for demonstrating leadership that supports fiscal reforms, describing the President’s commitment to budget discipline and economic stability as reassuring.

He recalled the President’s recent pledge that the era of multiple budget implementation would end by March 31, 2026.

While presenting the 2026 budget, President Tinubu had announced that from April 2026, Nigeria would operate a single budget anchored on a unified revenue cycle, aimed at addressing challenges such as abandoned projects, unpaid contractual obligations, and overlapping budgets inherited across administrations.

“This is research, a very hard one. Avoiding abandoned projects, unpaid contractual obligations and running multiple budgets, both inherited and of fulfilled mandates, is a problem staring the nation.

“So we are terminating the habit of running through a budget on one inflow. By March 31, 2026, all capital liabilities from previous years will be fully funded and closed. No overlaps, no excuses and no rollover cultures,” the President said.

Agbese described President Tinubu as a listening leader, noting that the decision to end multiple budgets reflects concerns raised by lawmakers and fiscal experts who have long warned against the practice due to its tendency to encourage fiscal indiscipline.

The lawmaker also passed a vote of confidence on the President’s economic team, particularly the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, for developing a budget framework that reflects Nigeria’s economic realities.

“We want to commend the economic team, especially the budget and planning ministry, for putting together a budget plan that reflects the nation’s reality and the economic interests of the various segments of our society,” he said.

Agbese reaffirmed the House’s commitment to reforms that will strengthen public finance management, improve service delivery, and restore public confidence in the budgeting process.