Fatimah Otunsanya
The House of Representatives has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to borrow ₦1.15tn to finance the 2025 budget deficit arising from the recent increase in the national budget size beyond earlier approved revenue and borrowing projections.
The approval followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management during plenary on Wednesday.
Presenting the report, the Committee Chairman, Abubakar Nalaraba (APC, Nasarawa), urged the House in the Committee of Supply to approve “The sum of ₦1.15tn as a borrowing programme in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded deficit gap created by the increase in the budget size, over and above the prior approved revenue and borrowing plans.”
Tinubu had earlier made the request in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, and read on the floor last week by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided in the Speaker’s absence.
The president, in the letter, explained that the additional borrowing was necessary to balance the 2025 budget in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007.
“I write to kindly request the approval of the National Assembly to establish a ₦1.15tn borrowing programme in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded deficit gap created by the increase in the budget size,” Tinubu stated.
He noted that the National Assembly had passed a ₦59.99tn budget, an upward review of ₦5.25tn from the ₦54.74tn proposal initially submitted by the executive, thereby widening the deficit to ₦14.10tn.
However, the borrowing provision approved in the budget was ₦12.95tn, leaving an unfunded deficit of ₦1,147,462,863,321.39. It is, therefore, necessary to increase the domestic borrowing limit in the 2025 budget by this amount to close the gap,” the letter added.
Citing Sections 44(1) and (2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, President Tinubu stressed that all new borrowings by the Federal Government require the approval of the National Assembly.
Following deliberations, the House granted the request, paving the way for the Federal Government to raise the additional ₦1.15tn from the domestic debt market.
NigeriaTodayTimes has reported on Wednesday that lawmakers failed to consider a single item on Tuesday’s Order Paper, expressing displeasure over the poor implementation of the capital components of the 2025 budget.
As a result, no plenary was held on Tuesday.