President Bola Tinubu is set to present the 2024 Supplementary Budget to the National Assembly (NASS) in the near future.
“I presented the previous budget to you,” the President mentioned during his address to a joint sitting of the National Assembly on Wednesday.
“You swiftly approved it. We are following through with our promises. I will soon introduce the Year 2024 (Supplementary) Appropriation Bill. This is just to keep you informed,” the President stated in his concise speech during the joint sitting commemorating the Silver Jubilee Of Nigeria’s 4th Republic.
Responding to this, Senate President Godswill Akpabio expressed, “Thank you, Mr. President, we eagerly await the Supplementary Appropriation Bill of 2024 at the earliest opportunity.”
‘No Foreign Aid Will Fix Nigeria’
Furthermore, during the joint sitting which coincided with the first anniversary of the Tinubu administration, the President officially declared ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’ as the “latest national anthem”.
Tinubu remarked, “You sang the latest national anthem, ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’. This represents our diversity, encompassing all facets and how we unite as brothers and sisters.”
The President urged both the Senate and the House of Representatives to maintain their cooperation and partnership with the administration to steer the country towards sustained progress and development.
“We have no other option; this is our nation. No external aid or individual will assist us unless we take the initiative ourselves. No amount of assistance from foreign nations or any other country (will solve our issues), they prioritize their own interests first. Let us collaborate as we are currently doing to construct our nation, not just for us but for future generations,” he emphasized.
Tinubu, on January 1, 2024, gave his approval to the ₦28.7 trillion 2024 Appropriation Bill that was passed by the Senate.
The 2024 budget exceeded the President’s initial proposal by ₦1.2 trillion, which was presented to a joint NASS session on November 29, 2023. Named the 2024 ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’, the President had set the oil price at $77.96, with a daily oil production estimate of 1.78 million barrels per day.
Initially, the President had fixed the exchange rate at ₦750/$1. However, within a few weeks of implementing the budget, the naira experienced a significant drop, reaching nearly ₦2,000/$1 in February. Since the unification of the foreign exchange windows, the currency has been fluctuating against the United States’ dollar, and it currently stands at around ₦1500/$1.
