Senate extends implementation of 2023 supplementary budget by three months

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill seeking to extend the implementation of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation till 31 March, 2024.

The bill was sponsored by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti).

It was titled “2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act (Amendment), Bill 2023”.

President Bola Tinubu had on 31 October transmitted the draft 2023 supplementary budget of N2.1 trillion to the National Assembly for approval.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the budget on 3 November while the president signed it into law on 8 November.

The amendment bill was read for the first time at the plenary on Thursday and second and third readings the same day.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced passage of the bill after a majority of senators supported it through a voice vote.

Mr Bamidele, while leading a debate on the bill explained that the extension of the supplementary budget timeline will empower all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government that received allocation in the budget to complete the execution of their projects before starting new ones.

He said the extension of the budget timeline will also prevent the MDAs from recording abandoned projects.

The senate leader noted that many MDAs have yet to utilise funds released to them in the supplementary budget due to late approval and releases.

“In view of the critical importance of some key projects nearing completion, it is expedient to grant extension of the expiration clause to avoid compounding the problem of abandoned projects given that some of the projects were not provided for in the 2024 Budget hence the need to extend the implementation year from 31st December, 2023 to 31st March, 2024 of both Acts.

“I, therefore, urge my colleagues to give their full support to this bill to allow full utilisation of the capital releases in order to help reflate the economy,” Mr Bamidele said.

The Senate therefore amended the deadline of the 2023 Supplementary Act by deleting “31st December, 2023” and substituting it with “31st March, 2024.

Prior to the amendment, the 2023 Appropriation Act Clause 12 stated that “in line with the provisions of Section 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Act runs for a period of 12 months, starting from the 1st day of January to 31st day of December, 2023”.

This bill is now to be cited as the Supplementary Appropriation Act, (Amendment) Bill, 2023.