The 2024–2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) was approved by the Senate. It calls for borrowing 7.8 trillion naira in 2024, a nine trillion naira deficit, and 26 trillion naira in overall spending by the federal government.
Godswill Akpabio, the President of the Senate, declared that the oil price benchmark of 73 dollars per barrel of crude oil, 1.78 million barrels per day, and sustained as stated in the MTEF/FSP documents, would be approved for 2024. Additionally, special interventions of 200 billion naira (recurrent) and 7 billion naira (capital) will be made, and the exchange rate will be 700 naira to one US dollar.
The Senate also decided that imports of any locally made goods should be prohibited.
A review of all revenue-generating agencies’ laws should be conducted, according to the joint committee led by Senator Musa Sani, which also noted that a considerable portion of the federal government’s revenue-generating agencies engaged in arbitrary, frivolous, and extra-budgetary expenditure.
The National Assembly should also start the process of modifying the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA, 2007) so that the authorities may better enforce fiscal responsibility and penalise Corporations that violate the law.
There was disagreement over the suggestion that NIPOST’s subsidiaries be wound up and deregistered right now because they are irregular and illegal.
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The chairman claims that part of the recommendation is to look into the 10 billion naira that the Ministry of Finance released for the proposed NIPOST restructuring and recapitalization. If it is found that the funds were used carelessly, the relevant Assembly committee charged with overseeing fiscal prudence will be entitled to a full refund of those funds.
Following discussion, it was decided that more research should be done before taking any persuasive action.
One of the proposals is that the relevant Senate committees look into all tax waivers from 2015 to the present and should not give any tax waivers that are not directly related to non-governmental or nonprofit organisations.
The suggestion that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) work towards lowering its production and operating costs in order to boost available government revenue was another that sparked discussion. Following the heated debates, the resolution was approved just as it was.
In order to prevent leaks, it is also advised that Federal Government Agencies make sure that ICT is deployed in the collection of all revenues by MDAs, including stamp duty collection activities.
