December 03, (THEWILL) – The Senate on Tuesday approved the 2025-2027 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper while mandating its committees on finance, petroleum, and gas to investigate allegations of withheld funds by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
These allegations include NGN 8.48 trillion in petrol subsidies and $2 billion (NGN 3.6 trillion) in unpaid taxes.
The MTEF/FSP is a three-year expenditure projection that forms the foundation of the nation’s annual budgets, as required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007.
This approval follows a similar move by the House of Representatives last Wednesday.
The Senate’s decision was based on the report of its Joint Committees on Finance and National Planning & Economic Affairs, presented by Chairman Musa Mohammed Sani during plenary.
The approved framework includes total expenditure – ₦47.9 trillion, new borrowing – ₦9.22 trillion (domestic and foreign borrowings combined), exchange rate – ₦1,400 to a dollar, oil price benchmarks – $75, $76.2, and $75.3 per barrel for 2025, 2026, and 2027, respectively.
The Senate’s probe into NNPCL was triggered by reports from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Responsibility Commission.
These reports highlighted withheld funds, including petrol subsidy claims -NGN 8.48 trillion and unpaid taxes – $2 billion.
The investigation also follows confirmation from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation that it had received all necessary documents to verify NNPCL’s N2.7 trillion fuel subsidy claims against the Federal Government.
In its resolution, the Senate emphasized its commitment to ensuring fiscal discipline and transparency, particularly in the operations of the NNPCL and other government agencies.
“Capital expenditure is projected at ₦16.48 trillion, which is exclusive of transfers; statutory transfers stand at ₦4.26 trillion; the sinking fund is projected at ₦430.27 billion, while total recurrent (non-debt) expenditure is projected at ₦14.21 trillion,” the lawmakers stated.
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