The House of Representatives finally passed the Appropriation Bill 2023, raising the total estimates from the proposed N20.51tn to N21,827,188,747,391.
The approval of the Federal Government’s budget followed the consideration and adoption of the House Appropriations Committee report on the bill in plenary on Wednesday.
The report came in a supplemental order document that was issued later in the session.
On Wednesday, the House passed the Finance Bill of 2022, the Supplemental Appropriation Bill of 2022, and the Appropriation Bill of 2022 (Amendment) that extended the implementation of the capital expenditure component of the budget of this year until March 31, 2023.
The National Assembly, which was to approve the budget last week, delayed the approval of the Appropriations Bill for 2023 until this week.
Last week, several lawmakers blamed the delay on the Finance Bill and Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2022 recently passed to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.
The president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retired), had only transmitted the finance bill to the National Assembly on Wednesday last week, while the supplementary appropriation bill was received by parliament on Thursday, the same day lawmakers planned to pass the 2023 budget and close out the year.
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