President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday urged the Senate to consider and approve a fresh request of N1.15 trillion borrowing from the domestic debt market to finance the deficit in this year’s budget.
The request was contained in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary.
President Tinubu stated that the proposed borrowing was aimed at bridging the funding gap and ensuring full implementation of government programmes and projects outlined in this year’s Fiscal Plan.
The letter reads: “I write to kindly request for the approval of the National Assembly to establish a N1,150,000,000.00 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.
“This request is pursuant to the provisions of Section 44, Subsections 1 and 2 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, FRA, of 2007, which requires the approval of the National Assembly for all new borrowings by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The distinguished President of the Senate may wish to note that the National Assembly passed a budget of N59.9 trillion, an increase of N5.25 trillion from the N49.74 trillion budget proposal by the Executive.
“This increase created a budget deficit of N14 trillion. However, the proposed borrowing approved in the budget was N12.95 trillion, which occasioned an unfunded deficit of N1.1 trillion.
“It is, therefore, necessary to increase the domestic borrowing limit in the 2025 budget by N1.147 trillion to close this gap.
“Based on the foregoing, I wish to request for the approval of the Senate for the establishment of a N1,150,000,000 borrowing programme in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded 2025 budget deficit gap.
“A specimen of the approval required for this purpose is attached as an extra tool.”
After reading the President letter. Akpabio referred the request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wammako (APC, Sokoto North), for further legislative work and to report back within one week.
