The Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) has said the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts, is a valid constitutional and legislative tool for fiscal alignment and budgetary oversight.
Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, who made the clarification in response to criticisms surrounding the budgeting process, said the actions followed due legislative procedure, having been passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President, and were undertaken to address prevailing macroeconomic and implementation realities.
The Budget Office, in a statement, dismissed claims that the repeal and re-enactment of the two Appropriation Acts were unconstitutional, illegal, or fiscally improper, describing such views as a misunderstanding of Nigeria’s constitutional framework and legislative practice.
The office said Sections 80–84 of the Constitution outline how the President proposes budgets and the Assembly approves spending.
“The Constitution does not prohibit the National Assembly from repealing and re-enacting an Appropriation Act where fiscal circumstances, implementation realities, or reconciliation of fiscal instruments make such legislative action necessary in the public interest,” the statement said.
The office said the Constitution allows budget extensions to complete obligations and settle claims.
“Where the National Assembly, in exercise of its legislative powers, extends the operational window of an Appropriation Act, such extension is an expression of legislative authority, not an illegality,” the office said.
The BOF said claims of expenditure without appropriation often confuse contractual obligations, statutory transfers, debt servicing, cash releases, and multi-year project commitments.
The office emphasized that spending must have lawful appropriation and proper legislative oversight through instruments like supplementary budgets, virement, or repeal and re-enactment.
It further argued that the repeal and re-enactment process strengthens, rather than weakens, constitutional control over public funds by consolidating and regularising fiscal authority through an Act of the National Assembly.
