The House of Representatives engaged in a heated debate Thursday over President Bola Tinubu’s request to extend the implementation period of the N21.83 trillion capital component of the 2023 budget.
Also debated was the extension of the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget to December 2024.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, read a letter from the President after which the executive bills requesting the extension were introduced.
The Leader of the House, Rep. Julius Ihonvbere, moved for the second reading of the bills but the Minority Leader, Rep. Kingsley Chinda, raised concerns about the request for the extension of the two budgets.
He argued that it would be morally wrong for Nigeria to run multiple budgets.
Rep. Chinda proposed that important projects in the 2023 supplementary budget be moved to the 2024 budget.
Rep. Alhassan Doguwa (APC-Kano) supported Rep. Chinda’s position, but the House Speaker appealed to the lawmakers to support the extension of the budget implementation.
His take that most items on the supplementary budget were security-related issues was unwelcome by most lawmakers who started shouting “No, no.”
The heated debate forced Speaker Abbas to ask that the House should go into an executive session for members to iron out issues before resuming consideration of the bills.
