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The House of Representatives has passed the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF&FSP), thereby approving the parameters for the 2025 federal government’s budget estimates of NGN47.9 trillion.
This followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the House Joint Committees on Finance and National Planning, and Economic Development, by the House Committee on Supply at plenary on Wednesday.
The House approved the projected oil benchmark prices of $75, $76.2 and $75.3 per barrel for 2025, 2026 and 2027 financial years, respectively.
It equally approved a three-year domestic crude oil production projected at 2.06 million, 2.10 million and 2.35 million for 2025, 2026 and 2027 fiscal years, as well as GDP growth rate of 4.6%, 4.4% and 5.5% for years 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively.
The Green Chamber further ratified the exchange rate of N1,400/$ for 2025, 2026 and 2027, subject, however, to review early next year, according to monetary and fiscal policies; and the inflation rates projections of 15.75%, 14.21% and 10.04% for 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively.
“Following the criteria in the overview of the framework for revenues and expenses, the 2025 Federal Government of Nigeria Budget proposed spending stands at NGN47.9 trillion, of which NGN34.82 trillion was retained; new borrowings stood at NGN9.22 trillion which constitutes both domestic and foreign borrowings; debt service was valued at NGN15.38 trillion; pensions, gratuities and retirees’ benefits stood at NGN1.443 trillion and fiscal deficit at NGN13.08 trillion.
“The Capital expenditure is projected at NGN16.48 trillion which is exclusive of transfers statutory transfers stand at NGN4.26 trillion; Sinking Fund is projected at NGN430.27 billion.
“The Committee approves the respective figures for total recurrent (non-debt) at NGN14.21 trillion; special intervention for recurrent and capital is at NGN200 billion and NGN7 billion,” the report read in parts.
The House also approved the recommendation that the National Assembly, through its Committees on Finance, National Planning and other relevant Committees should carry out in-depth investigation of such agreements by the NNPCL, NLNG and Immigration Service with a view to reconcile remittances to the Federation Account.
It also adopted the recommendation that the Committees on Finance, Petroleum Upstream, and Petroleum Downstream be tasked to investigate reports from the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Responsibility Commission alleging that the NNPC withheld N8.48 trillion as claimed subsidies for petrol.
The investigation will equally address the NEITI report stating that NNPC failed to remit $2 billion (N3.6 trillion) in taxes to the Federal Government while Committees are further directed to verify the total cumulative amount of unremitted revenue (under-recovery) from the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the NNPC between 2020 and 2023.
“The National Assembly do approves the Promissory Note Programme and Bond Issuance to settle outstanding claims and liabilities of Federal Government owed to States, high priority judgments as well as liabilities incurred by Federal Ministries, Department and Agencies on behalf of government
“The Committee recommends that a quarterly investigative hearing with revenue generating agencies to track their compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act and punish those in clear contravention of the Act.
“The Committee on Finance review and initiate inquiry into the implementation of the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) Act, specifically focusing on the inspection and monitoring of oil and gas exports by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure effectiveness, compliance, and oversight mechanisms under the Act, identify gaps or challenges, and enhance revenue for the Government, through transparency, accountability and efficiency of export supervision in line with national economic objectives.
“The Committees on Finance and Customs to initiate an investigative inquiry into the operations of the Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) programme, with a focus on the administration of import waivers and their impact on revenue losses by the Ministry of Finance and the Nigeria Customs Service, as a way of evaluating compliance, identify systemic gaps or irregularities, and recommend measures to enhance transparency, accountability and optimize revenue generation for the nation,” the report added.
