Senate extends Nigeria’s 2025 capital budget implementation to December 2026
Nigeria’s Senate has approved a fourth extension of the implementation period for the capital component of the 2025 budget, moving the deadline from September 30 to December 31, 2026. Lawmakers said the extension would help complete funded projects, but it also goes beyond a presidential pledge to end overlapping budgets.
Nigeria’s Senate has extended the implementation period for the capital component of the 2025 budget from September 30 to December 31, 2026. The upper chamber approved the change on Tuesday after considering a bill to amend the budget’s implementation period. The House of Representatives had earlier approved the same extension.
The bill was read for the first, second and third times on the same day and passed with the support of a majority of senators. It was first considered by the Senate Committee on Supply. This is the fourth extension of the capital component of the 2025 budget.
Its implementation was originally scheduled to end on December 31, 2025, but lawmakers moved the deadline to March 31, 2026, then to June 30 and later to September 30. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said the latest extension was needed to give ministries, departments and agencies time to complete capital projects for which funds had already been appropriated and released. He said allowing the deadline to lapse could create difficulties for government agencies, increase the risk of abandoned projects and reduce the value of public funds already committed.
Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin similarly said the extension could prevent projects from being left unfinished. Minority Leader Abba Moro supported the bill but urged senators not to turn the debate into a dispute over previous administrations. He said the extension would help implementation while calling for attention to practical measures for delivering government programmes.
The repeated extensions have raised concern since President Bola Tinubu’s administration began. Former Finance Minister Wale Edun had pledged in October 2025 to end the practice, while Tinubu said in December that all earlier capital liabilities would be funded and closed by March 31, 2026. The new deadline means the 2025 capital budget will remain open until the end of 2026, beyond the timeline outlined by the president.
The Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, announced passage after a voice vote.
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