Senate passes 2024 budget proposal for second reading

The senate has passed the 2024 budget proposal of N27 trillion for the second reading.

Debate on the appropriation bill began on Thursday after Opeyemi Bamidele, majority leader of the senate, moved a motion.

But the debate on the general principles of the bill was adjourned till Friday to allow any senator who wants to participate in it.

President Bola Tinubu presented the 2024 budget proposal of N27 trillion to a joint session of the national assembly on Wednesday.

Contributing to the debate on the budget, Seriake Dickson, senator representing Bayelsa west, said the proposal does not show that the federal government is committed to road projects.

“This government by what they have presented is not committed [to road projects]. This National Assembly should use its powers to provide more funds to complete the east-west road,” he said.

“I want to call on Mr President to use this budget to fund the NDDC. But in all the budget is an ambitious one.”

On his part, Salihu Mustapha, senator representing Kwara central, said the budget must prioritise agriculture so that the country could produce what it eats.

“In lending my voice to the beautiful encomiums on the budget. I’d like to draw our attention to agriculture,” Mustapha said.

“We must pay more attention to ensure that agriculture takes a better place in this budget. Let us look into skill acquisition, so we can produce what we eat.”

Emmanuel Udende, senator representing Benue north-east, said: “There are more merits in the budget than demerits. The percentage allocated to capital is better than the last.”

Enyinnaya Abaribe, senator representing Abia south, said the proposal does not address the issues faced by the power sector.

“The budget does not have anything without power. In the main budget itself, what was put for power was just three percent of the total percent of the budget,” Abaribe said.

“I think we should look at this budget and reprioritise if not, what we will see is garbage in, garbage out.”

Thereafter, the bill passed the second reading after Jibrin Barau, deputy senate president, put it to a vote.

The bill was referred to the appropriations committee and was asked to report on December 19.