The National Assembly is determined to meet the December 31st deadline for passing and signing the 2024 Appropriation Bill, aligning with President Bola Tinubu’s call to ensure a seamless January-December budget cycle.

President Tinubu, presenting the bill on Wednesday, emphasized the urgency of swift action, and lawmakers have responded by summoning key figures for a crucial meeting tomorrow.

Ministers, agency heads, security chiefs, and CEOs will gather to discuss strategies for approving the N27.6 trillion “Budget of Renewed Hope.”

According to The Nation, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola, warned that failure to defend budget allocations could result in zero funding next year. He stressed that surprise requests from the executive would jeopardize the tight timeline.

“We are sitting as a joint committee (Senate and House of Representatives) and what this means is that only one report will come from the Appropriation Committee.

“Unlike in the past when we had to sit together for harmonisation and concurrence, what we will have from the joint committees is the harmonised report. This will save considerable time.

“What we don’t expect from the Executive is the introduction of a new item that had not been accommodated in the budget that is already with us for consideration.

“The strategies we have adopted will make the deadline achievable.

“President Tinubu himself is aware of the exigency of time and he has warned his ministers and heads of MDAs to cooperate with us.

“We believe that nobody from the executive arm of government will flout the directive on this.

“If any agency fails to defend its vote, nothing will be appropriated for such agency for next year.

“We need maximum cooperation from the heads of the MDAs to achieve the set target.

“Any minister who fails to honour our invitation will operate on zero allocation next year.

“So, we are putting a lot of sacrifice into the task to deliver the budget on schedule. This is the only way to sustain the January – December budget cycle.”