Budget Deadline Shift!” — Tinubu Seeks NASS Approval To Extend 2025 Budget To 2026

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally requested the National Assembly to extend the lifespan of the 2025 Appropriation Act to March 2026.

The request was conveyed in a letter dated December 18, 2025, which was read during Friday’s plenary session by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen.

In the letter, President Tinubu also sought legislative approval to merge the capital components of the 2024 and 2025 budgets, a move he said would promote greater fiscal discipline and efficiency.

The President noted that the latest correspondence replaces an earlier letter dated December 16, which was submitted to lawmakers on the same issue.

Explaining the rationale behind the proposal, Tinubu said the extension is part of his administration’s wider fiscal reform agenda aimed at ending the practice of running multiple overlapping budgets simultaneously.

According to the letter, the President transmitted the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bills to the House of Representatives for consideration, in line with constitutional and legislative appropriation procedures.

The proposed 2024 Appropriation Bill seeks to repeal the existing Act of ₦35.05 trillion and re-enact a revised total expenditure of ₦43.56 trillion for the year ending December 31, 2025. The breakdown includes ₦1.74 trillion for statutory transfers, ₦8.27 trillion for debt servicing, ₦11.27 trillion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and ₦22.28 trillion for capital expenditure and development fund contributions.

Similarly, the 2025 Appropriation Bill proposes repealing the current ₦54.99 trillion budget and re-enacting a revised sum of ₦48.32 trillion to cover the period ending March 31, 2026. The proposed allocation comprises ₦3.65 trillion for statutory transfers, ₦14.32 trillion for debt servicing, ₦13.59 trillion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and ₦16.77 trillion for capital expenditure and development fund contributions.

The President explained that the revised bills are intended to capture previously unrecognised items and reflect a new capital implementation target of 30 per cent across all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

He said the adjustments align with current fiscal realities and implementation capacity, while ensuring transparency, credibility and accountability in budget performance. The extension of the 2025 budget to March 31, 2026, he added, would allow for the full release of the targeted 30 per cent capital allocation to all MDAs.

Tinubu noted that the proposals form part of broader reforms designed to eliminate overlapping budget cycles, strengthen planning and execution, and enhance accountability in public spending.

He further stated that the bills introduce stricter implementation and oversight measures, including limiting the release and use of funds strictly to approved purposes, requiring National Assembly approval for virement, setting conditions for corrigenda, mandating separate accounting for excess revenue, enforcing due process, and requiring periodic reporting on fund releases and agency revenues.

The President concluded by urging lawmakers to consider and pass the bills expeditiously, stressing that the December 18 letter supersedes his earlier submission dated December 16, 2025.