ABUJA – The National Assembly on Thursday approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to extend the implementation of the 2023 Appropriation Act and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act until December 31, 2024.

At the Senate, the move fol­lowed a letter by President Tinubu read by President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, at plenary.

The letter was titled, ‘Request for Further Amendment of the Appropriation Act 2023 and Sup­plementary Act 2023’.

It reads: “As you will recall by an Act of the National Assembly, the 2023 Appropriation Act and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act were amended in March 2024.

“This was to allow for their im­plementation until June 30, 2024.

“This extension was necessary to allow for the full implementation of capital projects contained in the budgets particularly those in­frastructural projects intended to improve commerce, address chal­lenges with security and education and health care and generally im­prove the well being of Nigerians.

“As many of these critical projects should remain ongoing, I write to request that the Senate considers and passes the legisla­tion to extend the implementation of the Appropriation Act 2023 and the Supplementary Appropriation Act 2023 to December 31.

“This is to ensure that the pro­visions of the Acts can be exhaus­tively implemented while hoping that this request shall receive the kind expeditious consideration of the Senate.”

The two bills which were given accelerated consideration in the Committee of Supply were unan­imously approved by the upper chamber.

In his remarks, Akpabio thanked his colleagues for their patriotic contributions to the pas­sage of the bills.

“I thank you for your contribu­tions, I thank you for your patriotic duties and most especially, I thank you for your timely intervention which enabled us and enabled the executive arm of government to continue with projects without abandonment.”

Similarly, at the House of Rep­resentatives, President Bola Tinu­bu had presented the requests con­tained in two bills through a letter read on the floor of the House by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, in Abuja.

The bills are titled, ‘The 2023 Appropriation Amendment Bill, 2024, and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Amendment Bill, 2024.’

Following its first reading, the Minority Leader of the House, Rep. Kingsley Chinda, during debate on the general principles of the bill, expressed reservations about the propriety of accelerating passage of the bills.

He stated that such might not be in the best interest of the coun­try, suggesting that provisions of the bills should be harmonised and included in the anticipated Supple­mentary Appropriation Act 2024.

Some of the lawmakers sup­ported the minority leader, leading to rowdiness during the plenary.

However, to calm the situa­tion, the House resolved to enter an executive session to deliberate further on the matter.

The session saw extensive discussions, with members from both sides of the divide contrib­uting their perspectives and sug­gestions.

Following these deliberations, the House dissolved into the Com­mittee of Supply to debate the var­ious clauses in the money bills, all of which were carried.

Subsequently, the House revert­ed to plenary where the bills were read for the third time.