President Bola Tinubu has officially approved the 2024 Budget, totaling N28.7 trillion, in a brief ceremony held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday. The signing event was attended by notable figures such as Senate President Godswill Akpabio, House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning Atiku Bagudu, and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
Other dignitaries present included Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje, and Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman Senator Olamilekan Adeola, among others. President Tinubu endorsed the budget shortly after returning from a week-long holiday in Lagos.
It’s noteworthy that the signed 2024 budget is N1.2 trillion higher than the initial proposal presented by the President to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023. The Senate further increased the budget from the original N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion on December 29, 2023, following the submission of a report by the Appropriation Committee led by Senator Solomon Adeola. The breakdown includes aggregate expenditure at N28,777,404,073,861; statutory transfers at N1,742,786,788,150; recurrent expenditure at N8,768,533,030,852; capital expenditure at N9,995,143,298,028; and a GDP growth rate of 3.88 percent.