The Senate has identified and corrected errors in the 2025 Appropriations Bill, which was passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives last Thursday.

The discrepancies were discovered during the final cleaning and realignment process by the Joint Committee on Appropriations.

The corrections primarily affected allocations under recurrent expenditure, pensions, and capital projects. Some of the key adjustments include:

Ministry of Defence: Revised from 2.51 trillion to 2.49 trillion naira

Ministry of Police Affairs: Adjusted from ?1.225 trillion to 1.224 trillion naira

Total Pensions, Gratuity, and Retirement Benefits: Increased from ?950 billion to 1.44 trillion naira

Military Pensions and Gratuities: Adjusted from 252.6 billion to 383.9 billion naira.

National Pension Commission (PENCOM): Increased from 529.4 billion naira to 804.7 billion naira.

Similarly, corrections were made in capital allocations, including reductions in the budgets for key ministries:

Presidency: Reduced from ?144.4 billion to ?142.7 billion.

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security: Adjusted from ?1.95 trillion to ?1.83 trillion.

Federal Ministry of Works: Revised from ?2.04 trillion to ?2 trillion.

Federal Ministry of Education: Reduced from ?953.9 billion to ?944.6 billion.

Despite these adjustments, the total budget size remains ?54.99 trillion with allocations unchanged for: Statutory Transfers: ?3.64 trillion; Debt Service: ?14.31 trillion.

However, the corrections led to an increase in Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure to ?13.58 trillion, while Capital Expenditure was reduced to ?23.43 trillion.

Citing Orders 1(B) and 52(6) of the Senate Standing Orders (2023, as amended), the Senate has now resolved to rescind its previous decision on the affected line items and the bill?s long title and recommit the corrected bill to the Committee of Supply for reconsideration and passage. (Channels TV)

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