Senate passes bill extending 2023 budget implementation to March

The Senate on Thursday passed an amendment bill seeking the extension of the 2023 appropriation and supplementary budget to March 31, 2024.

This followed the suspension of Senate Rule 78 sub (1) to allow the first and second reading of the bill at plenary.

The bill which was consolidated into one and titled: “A Bill for an Act to Amend the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act to Extend the Implementation Year from December 31 to March 31, 2024,” was sponsored by the Senate Leader, Bamidele, Opeyemi.

Opeyemi, who led the debate on the matter, said the extension was to give all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that received allocation in the 2023 supplementary budget more time to execute the proposed projects.

He added that the execution of the projects was needed to reflate the economy.

READ ALSO: Senate decries meagre allocation to information ministry in 2024 budget

The Senate leader pointed out that the 2023 appropriation and supplementary budget recently passed by the National Assembly and recent 2023 capital releases to MDAs were unlikely to be utilised before December 31 due to the late release of the funds.

“Given the critical importance of some key projects nearing completion, it is expedient to grant an 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 December 31 to March 31, 2024.

“I, therefore, urge my colleagues to give their full support to the bill to allow full utilisation of the capital releases to help reflate the economy,” he stated.

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