The Senate on Tuesday extended the implementation of the 2021 budget from March 31 to May 31, following a bill to amend the 2021 Appropriation Act.

Before considering the bill, they suspended rule 78(1) of the Senate Standing Orders 2022 (as amended), to enable the upper chamber to expeditiously introduce and pass the bill.

Sponsored by Senate Leader Yahaya Abdullahi, the bill was read during plenary on Tuesday for the first, second, and third after the suspension of rule 78(1).

Leading debate on the bill, Mr Abdullahi said the Appropriation Act in the past was passed mid-year, with its implementation usually extended to the following year.

“The clause is in line with the provisions of Section 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the Act runs for a period of 12 months, starting from the date it comes into effect,” he said.

He, however, observed on the contrary that Clause 12 of the provisions of Section 318 of the Constitution provided that the 12-month period started from the first day of January to December 31, 2021.

He said the 2022 Appropriation Act was amended to extend the implementation from December 31, 2021, to March 31, 2022.

Mr Abdullahi said that the extension of the budget period became imperative given the need to complete ongoing projects nearing completion.

“This is to avoid compounding the problem of abandoned projects given that some of the projects were not provided for in the 2022 budget hence the need to extend the implementation year from March 31 to May 31,” he said.

Meanwhile, a total of three bills scaled second reading on the floor.

The bills included the National Industrial Technology Park, the Federal College of Agriculture Ise-Orin, Ekiti State, and the Federal University of Agriculture Ogoja, Cross River bill.

The bills were sponsored by Senators Ibikunle Amosun (APC-Ogun), Biodun Olujimi (PDP-Ekiti) and Agom Jarigbe (PDP-Cross River).

(NAN)