Chukwu David 
…Probes NNPCL over N8.4trn withheld subsidy funds
The Senate, on Tuesday, approved the 2025–2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP, earlier submitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu.
The apex legislative Assembly gave this approval ahead of the 2025 budget presentation to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu.
The passage was sequel to the adoption of the report of the Senate Joint Committee on Finance; and National Planning & Economic Affairs, Chaired by Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East) during the plenary session.
This was as the Upper Chamber directed its Committees on Finance; Petroleum (Upstream), Petroleum (Downstream) and Gas, to investigate reports from the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Responsibility Commission (RMAFC) alleging that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) withheld N8.48 trillion as claimed subsidies for petrol.
The Senate noted that the investigation would also address the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report, stating that NNPCL failed to remit $2 billion (N3.6 trillion) in taxes to the Federal Government.
The Red Chamber further directed its Committees to verify the total cumulative amount of unremitted revenue (under-recovery) from the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the NNPCL between 2020 and 2023.
The apex assembly, however, directed the relevant Committees to carry out an in-depth investigation of such agreements by the NNPCL, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG and Immigration Services with a view to reconcile remittances to the Federation Account.
In the three-year MTEF/ FSP projections, the Senate pegged the exchange rate at N1,400/$ 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 Chamber noted 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 N47.9trilion of which N34.82 trillion is retained. New borrowings stood at N9.22 trillion, made up of both domestic and foreign borrowings.
“Capital expenditure is projected at N16.48 trillion with statutory transfers standing at N4.26 trillion and sinking funds projected at N430.27 billion.”
Speaking during a debate on the report, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Ogun West) referenced the Federal Government’s Compressed Natural Gas, CNG initiative as the underlying imperative for the adoption of the N1,400 to one dollar.
“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 were to be achieved.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, commended the Chairman and members of the joint Committee for their in-depth analysis and generally impressive work done on the document.
