The Senate on Tuesday postponed the implementation of the 2021 budget until May 31, a month later than the original deadline of March 31.
The extension came when the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, introduced a measure to alter the 2021 Appropriations Act.
The Senate suspended Rule 78(1) of the Senate Standing Orders 2022 (as amended) before debating the bill in plenary to allow the upper house to quickly introduce and pass the measure, which was read for the first, second, and third times after Rule 78(1) was suspended (1).
While leading the debate on the bill, Abdullahi criticised prior mid-year Appropriation Acts, claiming that their implementation was frequently postponed until the following year.
“In previous Appropriation Act, these extensions were usually covered by a clause. The clause is in line with the provisions of Section 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the Act runs for a period of 12 months, starting from the date it comes into effect,” he said.
He claimed, on the other hand, that he had seen that Clause 12 of Section 318 of the Constitution stated that the 12-month term begins on January 1 and ends on December 31.
The 2022 Appropriation Act was revised, he said, to move the implementation date from December 31, 2021, to March 31, 2022.
According to Abdullahi, the extension of the budget period became necessary due to the necessity to complete ongoing projects that were nearing completion.
“As you are aware, the 2021 virement of the aggregate sum of N276 billion was approved for several MDAs by the National Assembly in December 2021 along with 100 per cent release of the 2021 Capital Budget of the MDAs.
“A significant portion of the releases to the MDAs has been utilised following the extension to March 31.
“In view of the critical importance of some key projects nearing completion, it is expedient to grant further extension of the expiration clause.
“This is to avoid compounding the problem of abandoned projects given that some of the projects were not provided for in the 2022 budget hence the need to extend the implementation year form March 31 to May 31,” Abdullahi said.
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