The Senate at its plenary of Wednesday passed the 2025 Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Statutory Appropriation Bill of of N1.8 trillion
This followed the presentation of report of Committees on FCT by the Chairman, Senator Ibrahim (Yobe South) at plenary on Wednesday.
Senator Ibrahim said the Senate and the House of Representatives Committee on FCT met with the Honorable Minister and other relevant officials of the FCT administration to deliberate on the appropriation bill.
He said the breakdown of the budget included personnel cost of N106 billion, overhead of N352 billion, total recurrent was proposed for N502 billion while capital expenditure proposed was N1.3 trillion.
He said the total personal cost constitutes 8.29 per cent of the budget while the total recurrent of the budget constitute 27.69 per cent while the total capital was 72.31 per cent.
According to him, out of the 72.31 per cent, 85 per cent of the capital was dedicated to ongoing projects, adding that only 50 per cent of the capital was for new projects.
He said, the best practice for budget framework was usually 70 per cent for capital and 30 per cent for recurrent.
However, he said it was commendable that FCT budget has 72.32 per cent for capital and 27.69 for overhead.
”This shows that the structure of the budget is in conformity with the best practice”, he said.
Contributing, Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin (Kano) said the leadership of FCTA has done well in the administration of the FCT.
He said senate should support the laudable efforts of the FCT minister and his team to improve infrastructure development by approving the budget overwhelmingly.
In another development, Rivers State N1.48trn 2025 Appropriation Bill passes second reading in Senate on Wednesday.
This followed the presentation of the general principles of the bill at plenary on Wednesday by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central).
Presenting the lead debate, Bamidele said regulation 4.2.8 of the Emergency Rule 2025 in Rivers State required authorisation for expenditure from the Consolidated Revenue of Rivers for its activities.
He said the budget submission followed declaration of emergency rule in Rivers by President Bola Tinubu on March18 and the subsequent nullification of the state’s 2025 budget by the Supreme Court.
Bamidele said history bestowed on the distinguished senators as statesmen to perform the constitutional duty of appropriation for Rivers given the absence of Rivers House of Assembly to approve the budget proposal.
He said the sum of N324 billion was for infrastructure, both ongoing and new projects, while the sum of N166 billion was proposed for the health sector, including N5 billion for free drugs for treatment of malaria and other common ailments.
“The sum of N75.6 billion is proposed for the educational sector for improving learning environments and ensuring access to free basic education and N32 billion is proposed for agricultural purposes,” he said.
According to him, N166.5 billion amounting to 14.4 per cent of the budget is allocated for health, while approximately N6.2 billion is being allocated for youth empowerment which includes digital resource centres and sports development and N5.2 billion was proposed for women affairs.
He said the spending plan prioritised investment in critical sectors of the state, such as infrastructure, health, including drugs for malaria and other common ailments, education and agriculture projected to generate 6,000 jobs.
He said the budget aimed to promote inclusive growth and development with a focus on sustainable economic expansion and improved living conditions for residents.
According to him, the budget will receive funding sources from federal allocation, internally generated revenue, statutory allocations, VAT.
He said the budget was designed to stabilise the state, restore critical services and improve livelihoods.
He urged lawmakers to support the second reading of the bill.
President of Senate, Godswill Akpabio, after the bill was read the second time refereed it to the Ad-hoc Committee on Rivers Emergency Rule for further legislative inputs and to revert back to plenary in two weeks.
