Senate passes MTEF, probes NNPCL over N8.4tn subsidy funds
As President Bola Tinubu prepares to present the 2025 budget to the National Assembly this week, the Senate, on Tuesday, gave its approval to the 2025–2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper submitted earlier by the President.
This decision was based on the adoption of a report presented during plenary by the Senate’s joint Committees on Finance and National Planning & Economic Affairs, led by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East).
This was even as the Red Chamber mandated its Committees on Finance; Petroleum (Upstream) and Petroleum (Downstream) as well as Gas to investigate reports from the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Responsibility Commission, alleging that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited withheld N8.48tn as claimed subsidies for petrol.
It noted that the investigation would address the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI report, stating that NNPCL failed to remit $2bn (N3.6tn) in taxes to the Federal Government.
The Senate further directed its committees to verify the total cumulative amount of unremitted revenue (under-recovery) from the sale of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS also known as petrol by the NNPCL between 2020 and 2023.
It, however, directed the relevant committees to carry out an in-depth investigation of such agreements by the NNPCL, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, and Immigration Services with a view to reconciling remittances to the Federation Account.
In the three-year projections, the Senate pegged the exchange rate at N1,400/$ for 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively.
It also projected oil benchmark prices at $75, $76.2, and $75.3 per barrel for 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively.
The Senate added that the three-year projections for domestic crude oil production had a significant increase from 1.78m bpd in the preceding year to 2.06, 2.10, and 2.35 for the subsequent years of 2025, 2026, and 2027, respectively.
It further projected Gross Domestic Product, GDP growth rates of 4.6 per cent, 4.4 per cent, and 5.5 per cent for 2025, 2026, and 2027.
The Red Chamber also projected the inflation rates at 15.75 per cent, 14.21 per cent, and 10.04 per cent for 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively.
It, however, demanded a reduction in the petrol prices against the backdrop of the commencement of production at the Port Harcourt refinery.
According to the recommendations, “The 2025 Federal Government of Nigeria budget proposed spending of N47.9tn of which N34.82tn is retained. New borrowings stood at N9.22tn, made up of both domestic and foreign borrowings.
“Capital expenditure is projected at N16.48tn with statutory transfers standing at N4.26tn and sinking funds projected at N430.27bn.”
