Some members of the House of Representatives have expressed satisfaction with the N47.9 trillion Appropriation Bill 2025 presented to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.

DAILY POST reports that in the 2025 budget, the sum of N4.9 trillion was allocated for defence, N4.06 trillion for infrastructure, N2.48 trillion for health and N3.52 trillion for education , among others.

The lawmakers, in their separate reactions after the budget presentation, described the budget as a “huge improvement” over the 2024 budget.

Chairman, House Committee on Defense, Rep. Benson Babajimi, APC-Lagos, said if implemented well, the budget would meet the expectations of Nigerians.

“It’s very ambitious, it’s a huge improvement on last year’s budget. This shows that the president is bold and reformist.

“He wants to connect Nigeria to rail and roads; the Sokoto-Badagry highway project is a game-changer; that of Lagos-Calabar also changes the situation.

“There is a huge improvement in security, budget, health and education. This shows someone who has a mission and a vision. The renewed Infrastructure Fund that he talked about will also take us to the next level.

“So we think it is a good budget, and he prayed for the cooperation of the National Assembly.

“To ensure this, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, emphatically stated that we will ensure that the budget is ruthlessly executed; so we hope for renewed hope in 2025,” he said.

Similarly, Rep. Abubakar Fulata, APC-Jigawa, said all assumptions in the budget were very satisfactory except in a few areas.

According to him, the over N15 trillion earmarked for debt servicing out of the total sum is not very impressive.

He further said that the current price of crude oil is hovering between $73 and $74 per barrel, with the budget based on $15 per barrel.

“We already have a deficit of about $1.5 per barrel. So I hope we can raise the money that we hope to make.

“We also hope that there will be peace in the Niger Delta so that we can get the 2.06 million barrels per day,” he said.

Also speaking, Rep. Idem Unyime, PDP-Akwa Ibom, said the January to December budget cycle would not be realized.

He said that even if the budget was presented on time, the National Assembly would not be able to consider it until after the Christmas holidays.

Unyime added that the assembly would work on the budget and ensure its adoption before the end of January 2025.