•Nigerian Senate
The lifespan of the capital vote component of the federal government’s 2024 budget is set for extension.
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele gave this hint yesterday, saying this is necessary to ensure full implementation, reports The Nation.
Bamidele said: “We have to sit and assess the full implementation of the 2024 budget.
“We will further extend the capital expenditure timeline while ensuring that the 2025 budget is fully implemented.”
The National Assembly, before the passage of this year’s budget, extended the implementation of the capital expenditure for the 2024 budget till June 30, this year.
The planned further extension might have been a result of the inability to fully implement the capital vote.
Last December 18, the National Assembly extended the implementation of the 2024 Budget by six months.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, speaking at the 2025 Budget presentation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said the 2024 Budget had achieved a 50 per cent performance rate in capital expenditure and 48 per cent in recurrent expenditure.
“Your Excellency, we have noted the 2024 Budget performance.
“Given this great achievement, we have deemed it necessary to extend the life span of the 2024 Budget to June 30th, 2025.
“The enabling law for this extension will soon be placed before you for your assent as a testament to our appreciation for the great performance of the budget, ensuring that we build upon your momentum,” Akpabio had said.
Bamidele, in a statement by his media adviser, Gboyega Akinsanmi, also spoke on the need to institutionalise a presidential address every June 12 in recognition of its historical significance.
The Senator said: “We are hoping to bring a bill soon to institutionalise the President’s address on June 12 because of its historical importance.
“There can’t be a better time to address the nation through the parliament than on June 12, especially since it is a joint sitting.”
President Tinubu is slated to address the Federal lawmakers at a joint sitting tomorrow.
Bamidele said the proposed legislation would also seek to designate the National Assembly Complex as the venue for future presidential inauguration.
He added: “We are hoping, in that bill, to ensure that the swearing-in of the next President and Commander-in-Chief, who we believe is President Tinubu, will be held within the arcade of the National Assembly.”
June 12 was declared Democracy Day as a replacement for May 29 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The historic election won by Chief Moshood Abiola and annulled by Military President Ibrahim Babangida was held on June 12, 1993.
May 29, 1999, is the anniversary of the return to civil rule after 13 years of military.
Bamidele said a bill to make the presidential address at the National Assembly on June 12 mandatory will be proposed.
The Senator, who is the Vice Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, acknowledged that the constitution amendment has been slow.
However, he assured Nigerians that the process is ongoing, adding that it will bear fruit.
Bamidele said the committee is approaching the final stage of its work and planning to hold public hearings at zonal levels.
He said the public hearings would lead to a joint public hearing coordinated by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
He stressed: “We have done almost 70 per cent of the work before going public.
“Before the end of the third legislative year, we intend to complete the constitutional amendment process.”
