The National Assembly has directed the immediate withdrawal of all circulars issued for contract awards under the 2025 fiscal year.
This decision was made during a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Appropriations with the federal government’s economic team.
The resolution was jointly adopted by the Appropriations Committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives during a joint budget assessment session with the federal government’s economic team at the Senate wing of the National Assembly.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West), who read out the resolution, stressed the need to streamline the commencement of the 2025 capital projects with the formal issuance of spending authority.
Senator Adeola said, “Implementation of the capital component of the 2024 budget continues until December 31, 2025.
“The capital implementation for 2025 should commence immediately, and the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) must be issued within seven days of this meeting.
“Until then, all circulars issued by the Ministry of Finance to MDAs on contract awards should be withdrawn,” he added.
The move followed a similar resolution adopted earlier in the week by the House Appropriations Committee and reflects the legislature’s growing concern over overlapping budget cycles and the implications for project delivery and fiscal discipline.
Present at the joint session were key members of the federal government’s economic management team, including the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu; the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Samsudeen Ogunjimi; and Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu.
The session concluded with a closed-door meeting between the lawmakers and the executive officials, with no opposition raised by the economic team to the legislature’s resolution.
The 2025 Appropriation Bill, valued at N54.99 trillion, includes a record-high N23.9 trillion earmarked for capital expenditure, much of which now risks delayed implementation amidst transitional fiscal planning between 2024 and 2025 cycles.
The federal parliament cited delays in capital budget execution, signaling that the N23.9 trillion capital component may extend into the 2026 fiscal cycle.
