The Senate has approved the 2025–2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper on Tuesday, paving the way for President Bola Tinubu to present the 2025 national budget to the National Assembly.
The approval follows the adoption of a report submitted during plenary by the Senate’s joint Committees on Finance and National Planning & Economic Affairs, chaired by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East).
The Senate also directed its Committees on Finance, Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream), and Gas to investigate allegations by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Responsibility Commission that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited withheld ₦8.48 trillion as claimed subsidies for petrol.
The investigation will also address findings from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report, which alleged that the NNPCL failed to remit $2 billion (₦3.6 trillion) in taxes to the Federal Government.
The Senate further instructed its committees to verify the total cumulative unremitted revenue, or under-recovery, from the sale of PMS, commonly known as petrol, by the NNPCL between 2020 and 2023.
The Senate also mandated its committees to conduct a thorough investigation into agreements entered into by the NNPCL, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, and Immigration Services, aiming to reconcile remittances to the Federation Account.
In its three-year projections, the Senate set the exchange rate at ₦1,400/$ for 2025, 2026, and 2027.
It also projected oil benchmark prices at $75, $76.2, and $75.3 per barrel for 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively.
The Senate added that the three-year projections for domestic crude oil production had a significant increase from 1.78m bpd in the preceding year to 2.06, 2.10, and 2.35 for the subsequent years of 2025, 2026, and 2027, respectively.
It further projected Gross Domestic Product, GDP growth rates of 4.6 per cent, 4.4 per cent, and 5.5 per cent for 2025, 2026, and 2027.
It, however, demanded a reduction in the petrol prices against the backdrop of the commencement of production at the Port Harcourt refinery.
According to the recommendations, “The 2025 Federal Government of Nigeria budget proposed spending of N47.9tn of which N34.82tn is retained. New borrowings stood at N9.22tn, made up of both domestic and foreign borrowings.
“Capital expenditure is projected at N16.48tn with statutory transfers standing at N4.26tn and sinking funds projected at N430.27bn.”
During the debate on the report, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Ogun West), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, highlighted the Federal Government’s Compressed Natural Gas initiative as a key factor behind the adoption of the ₦1,400/$ exchange rate in the projections.
“With the functioning of our refineries, the demand for Forex will drop. With the CNG initiative, Nigerians will have an option for your information if you leave Benin for Lagos the amount of fuel is about 130,000 but with CNG you can’t use more than N48,000. Another issue to be addressed is the recurrent to-capital ratio which is very high,” he said.
In his contribution, the former Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (PDP Kebbi North), stressed the need to support the manufacturing industries if the projections of the MTEF are to be achieved.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio praised the chairman and members of the joint committees for their thorough analysis and commendable work on the document during his remarks.
Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo South), in his contribution, advocated for the adoption of a transactional tax system. He expressed concern that wealthy individuals in Nigeria are not paying sufficient taxes.
He said, “They need to pay more. It is comfortable for them to pay. I know they say they generate employment but they need to pay more for their luxury assets.
“This is the area we should develop. I am looking at laws that will actually police transactional costs. The government provides incentives for your business. What we are looking at is profit from your investment.
“The GDP to tax ratio is 18 per cent. About 72 per cent left out of the tax net. We should not worry that 72% are not in the tax net. I am not saying we should go and tax the poor population but the rich need to do more in these difficult times.”
