SAHARA REPORTERS
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has claimed that the current administration of Bola Tinubu needs more borrowings to fund its budget even though some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies have surpassed their revenue target.
The minister mentioned this during an interactive session of the Senate Joint Committees on Finance and National Planning and Economic Affairs on the 2025-2027 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper.
Despite over N134trillion public debts which the Nigerian government currently amassed, the minister said the borrowing needed to be done productively and efficiently, based on the Senate’s approval for proper budget funding.
“The revenue effort has been good, but we still need to do better, and in the meantime, we still need to borrow productively, effectively and sustainably all in the name to invest in a Nigerian economy.
“Not just infrastructure but also social services, health services, education and intervention in terms of social safety net to help the poorest and most vulnerable,” Edun said.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, also reminded the lawmakers that the borrowing plans contained in the N35.5 trillion 2024 budget were primarily meant to fund the N9.7 trillion deficit.
He said: “Despite revenue targets surpassing by some of the revenue generating agencies , 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 a long term development perspective plan agenda 2050 aiming at GDP per capital of $33,000,” Bagudu explained.
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission had earlier projected that Nigeria could fund its budget without loans.
The Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, informed the committee that the agency has recovered over N197 billion since January 2024. He also stated that if the government works hard and collects the necessary amount from the IOCs, the country will have enough to fund the budget.
The Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, in his presentation, also disclosed that the Customs raked in N5.352 trillion in revenue above the N5.09 trillion target for the 2024 fiscal year.
He added that N6.3 trillion is targeted as projected revenue for 2025, a 10% increase of which would be the revenue target for 2026 and an additional 10% increase for the 2027 fiscal year.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN SAHARA REPORTERS
