Nevertheless, the Federal Government has maintained that borrowing remains essential for adequately funding the budget, despite the increased revenues reported by certain agencies.
This information was shared during an interactive session involving the Federal Government’s revenue-generating agencies and the National Assembly’s joint Committees on Finance, Budget, and National Planning, led by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East). The session focused on the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) and lasted over four hours in Room 231 of the Senate wing.
During the session, representatives from the revenue-generating agencies presented their assessments of the 2024 budget performance and revenue forecasts for the 2025 budget, which is projected at N49.7 trillion.
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, reported that as of September 30 of this year, the Customs had generated N5.352 trillion, surpassing the N5.09 trillion target for the entire 2024 fiscal year. He indicated that the projected revenue target for 2025 is N6.3 trillion, with a planned 10% increase for 2026 and an additional 10% increase for 2027.
Additionally, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, highlighted that the company has already exceeded its 2024 revenue projection of N12.3 trillion by generating N13.1 trillion.
He said: “For the 2025 fiscal year, N23.7 trillion is projected by NNPCL to be remitted into the federation account.”
In his presentation, Zacch Adedeji, Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), informed the joint committees that the agency had exceeded its revenue targets across multiple tax categories.
He reported that for Company Income Tax, the target was set at N4 trillion, but actual revenue reached N5.7 trillion.
He said: “All in all, out of N19.4 trillion targeted for 2024 fiscal year, N18.5 trillion was realised as at the end of September.
“This clearly shows that the target will be far exceeded by the end of the year.”
Additionally, for Education Tax, while the target was N70 billion, the total revenue collected amounted to N1.5 trillion.
Senate Questions Federal Government's Continued Borrowing
During the conclusion of their presentations, Committee members inquired about the Federal Government's ongoing pursuit of foreign loans, despite a significant rise in internally generated revenues.
Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP Kebbi Central) initiated the discussion by asking, “How is the Federal Government utilizing the surplus revenues collected by various agencies, considering its persistent requests for foreign loan approvals?”
In reply, the head of the FIRS explained that the loans sought by the executive branch were already included in the appropriation act.
He said: “Borrowing is part of what have been approved by the National Assembly for the Federal Government, meaning that the executive borrows based on approval of the legislature.
“The fact that we meet revenue targets, and even surpassed them as revenue generating agencies, does not mean that the borrowing component of an appropriation law, passed by the National Assembly should not be activated.”
Immigration faces challenges
The Immigration Service of Nigeria encountered significant issues during the interactive session regarding the disproportionately skewed Private Public Partnership (PPP) agreements related to passport production, which allocated 70% of the revenue to the consultancy firm and only 30% to the government.
Senator Sani Musa, the Chairman of the Committee, instructed the Immigration Service to submit all relevant documents concerning the unsatisfactory PPP arrangement to the committee by the end of the week.
He said: “The so-called PPP arrangement must be reviewed or cancelled because Nigeria and Nigerians are seriously being short-changed.”