There were disagreements between members of the National Assembly on Monday regarding President Bola Tinubu’s loan requests.
This follows reports of several revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government generating and exceeding their budgetary revenue targets for 2024.
On Monday, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, confirmed the Federal Government had generated ₦1.5 trillion in education tax, significantly surpassing the ₦70 billion target.
Adedeji shared this information during an interactive session with the joint Committees on Finance, Budget, and National Planning of the National Assembly, focusing on the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
In their individual presentations to the joint committees regarding the 2024 budget performance and revenue projections for the ₦49.7 trillion budget for 2025, the revenue-generating agencies reported exceeding their revenue targets for the 2024 fiscal year.
This announcement regarding the education tax surplus emerged amid concerns over recent increases in school fees across the board.
According to Adedeji, while the target for Company Income Tax was set at ₦4 trillion, the actual revenue realized has reached ₦5.7 trillion.
“On Education tax, while ₦70bn was targeted, a total of ₦1.5tn has been realised.
“All in all, out of ₦19.4tn targeted for the 2024 fiscal year, ₦18.5tn was realised as of the end of September, which clearly shows that the target will be far exceeded by the end of the year,” he boasted.
In his presentation, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, said the company exceeded the N12.3tn revenue projected for 2024 by already raking in ₦13.1tn.
He said, “For the 2025 fiscal year, ₦23.7tn is projected by the NNPCL to be remitted into the Federation Account.”
In his presentation, Bashir Adeniyi, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, reported that as of September 30, the agency had generated ₦5.35 trillion in revenue, surpassing the ₦5.09 trillion target set for the entire fiscal year of 2024.
He further indicated that the projected revenue target for 2025 is ₦6.3 trillion, with a planned 10% increase for the revenue target in 2026, followed by an additional 10% increase for the fiscal year 2027.
What Is The Government Doing With The Excess Generated Revenues?
However, members of the joint committees, led by Senator Sani Musa, expressed their astonishment at the reports from revenue-generating agencies and inquired why the federal government continues to pursue foreign loans despite the significant rise in internally generated revenues.
Addressing the matter, Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP Kebbi Central), who first voiced his concerns, said, “What is the Federal Government doing with excess revenues generated by the various agencies in view of its unending request for foreign loan approval?”
Generating Much Revenue Does Not Stop The Govt From Taking Loan – FIRS Boss
Responding, however, to the questions by members of the Joint Committee, FIRS boss Adedeji insisted that loans being requested by the executive were already part of the Appropriation Act.
He said, “Borrowing is part of what has 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.”
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, expressed a similar sentiment, emphasizing that the borrowing strategies outlined in the ₦35.5 trillion 2024 budget are fundamentally intended to address the deficit, which amounts to ₦9.7 trillion.
“Despite revenue targets surpassing by some of the revenue-generating agencies, the government still needs to borrow for proper funding of the budget, particularly in the area of deficit and productivity for the poorest and most vulnerable.
“We have a long-term development perspective plan agenda 2050 aiming at GDP per capita of $33,000,” he explained.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, articulated to the federal legislators that borrowing remains essential for adequate budget funding, notwithstanding the rise in revenues generated by certain agencies.
Conversely, the Immigration Service of Nigeria faced significant challenges during the interactive session due to the disproportionately skewed Public Private Partnership agreements concerning passport production, which allocated 70% of the profits to the consultancy firm while the government received only 30%.
Senator Sani Musa, the Chairman of the Committee, instructed the Immigration Service to submit all relevant documentation regarding the unacceptable Public Private Partnership arrangement to the committee by the end of the week.
“The so-called PPP arrangement must be reviewed or cancelled because Nigeria and Nigerians are seriously being short-changed,” Musa said.
