Reps to raise allocation for Defence Ministry to fight insecurity
.As C’ttee rejects envelope budgeting system for Foreign Ministry
Jonas Ezieke, Abuja and Chidimma Uchegbu – Abuja
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, has given commitments that the Federal Government will achieve its N36.35 trillion 2025 revenue target.
The minister spoke at the National Assembly Joint Committees on Finance hearing on the 2025 Appropriation Bill in Abuja .
He expressed confidence in the anticipated gains of President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s economic reforms, which he said had begun to bear fruit.
He said the combined effects of removing fuel and foreign exchange subsidies boosted the three levels of government revenue, which he explained had begun to manifest in October of last year.
He said the administration expected an upward revenue trajectory with the savings from removing fuel and forex subsidies.
The minister explained that President Bola Tinubu had directed all revenue-generating MDAs and Government-Owned Enterprises to ramp up their operations to bring more money to the government’s purse.
Bagudu pointed out that the nation’s treasury would swell with the government’s determination to ramp up oil production at a reduced cost.
Following the National Assembly’s approval of the 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, President Bola Tinubu presented the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly in December last year, proposing an expenditure of N49.74 trillion.
The bill assumed 2.06 billion barrels per day production at $75, N1,500/$ exchange rate, 15.75% inflation and 4.6% GDP rate.
Despite a 13.08 trillion deficit, the minister told the federal legislators that the Federal Government was confident it would generate the revenue to fund the budget, explaining that the administration would leverage its experience of the 2024 budget to achieve its target.
He said, “The 2024 budget is this administration’s first full-year budget, and lessons learned from 2024 have formed the basis of the assumptions in 2025.
“The principal among those assumptions and lessons was the removal of the fuel subsidy and its effect on revenue and expenditure, the removal or deregulation of the foreign exchange market and its impact on both government revenue and spending, and other price-distorting issues, such as electricity, which has not been fully dealt with.
“All the major, bold, and courageous steps taken with the support of the National Assembly are intended to generate more revenues for the three tiers of government, correct distortions in the economy, and improve expenditure efficiency so that we can ensure that the revenue generated goes a long way.”
However, Bagudu said 2024 was characterised by different revenue profiles, explaining that only in October did the full effect of removing fuel subsidies begin to show up in the federation account revenue.
He assured the lawmakers that despite the hangover effects of the subsidy regime, the administration had learnt valuable lessons from implementing the 2024 budget that made it confident that it would achieve its 2025 revenue projection.
Bagudu said, “Because we have seen all the elements and learned many lessons, with the support of the National Assembly, the Budget Office was able to guide and rely on the best estimates, allowing us to make revenue assumptions based on 2.06 million barrels per day.
“The Minister of State Petroleum and the Federal Executive Council even said they hope we can do more. And Mr. President appreciates the security efforts and the fact that we have to challenge the management of institutions to do better, as well as the reduction of importation. These are all things that significantly affect the revenue profile.”
The minister said that following the National Assembly’s charge in 2024, the GOEs should shore up their revenues, and the President directed the enterprises to brace up for better performance in 2025.
“It was for all those reasons that our budget for 2025 made the revenue assumption of 36.35 trillion, as well as expenditure projection of 49.74. We believe that the measures taken with the combined effect of the world reforms will generate more monthly revenue,” he told the federal legislators.
Bagudu thanked the National Assembly for working seamlessly with the executive, assuring them that President Tinubu did not take their cooperation for granted.
He rounded off his presentation, “The ability of the institutions, revenue institutions, to be responsive to the demand of the country, to be mindful of the courageous, bold, and even risky measures that this government, supported by the National Assembly, is taking, and demand on all to be accountable so that revenues are adequately accounted for, as well as expenditures are justified.
“We believe, with that kind of approach and the support of the National Assembly and the directive by Mr. President, that all government agencies must cooperate fully with the National Assembly, the ambitious projections are achievable, and I commend you for calling us.”
The chairmen of the Joint Committees, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa and Hon. James Faleke, commended Senator Bagudu for his candid presentation and expressed hope that all the MDAs would cooperate with the committee in performing its assignment.
Reps to raise allocation for Defence Ministry to fight insecurity
However, The House of Representatives Committee on Defence has resolved to increase the budgetary provision of the Ministry of Defence to sustain the success being recorded in the fight against insecurity in the country.
The Committee made this public on Tuesday following the adoption of a motion by a member, Hon.Philip Agbese, who commended the military for their efforts when the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, appeared to defend the Ministry’s budget for 2025.
This was as the Minister Matawale said the sum of N50 billion allocated for the Ministry in the 2025 budget was inadequate and appealed for an upward review.
He assured with adequate funding the problem of banditry will be addressed in two months.
Agbese, who moved the motion said, “I am moving the motion before this committee Mr Chairman that we should grant explicit approval to the request that he has made is a fact that one time we saw the Honourable Minister and the Chief of Defence Staff leading our troops to the north-west to confront the bandits.
“Initially when we saw it on television we thought it was the usual political engagement by our leaders to just give us photographs and videos that will appeal to the masses. But two, three weeks after that time we saw that some of the notorious bandit leaders after that visit were killed, some were captured by our troops which attest to the importance of that visit.
“So the ministry is really, really doing well. I want to attest to that and it is because we don’t clap here, I would have asked Mr. Chairman that we should clap for the minister and what they are doing. So in line with that protocol, having established that Mr. Chairman, I want to move a motion before this parliament first to commend the Honourable Minister for what the military are doing in the northwest and across the country particularly in Benue State.
“We used to have issues of farmers herders crisis before now. Since he came on board in the last two years we have not had this problem anywhere in Benue. We give credit to Mr. President and the to the capable Minister that he has appointed and what the service Chiefs are doing. So I’m rising to move this motion that we should grant their request and find a way to even add more support so that they can do more in 2025.”
Earlier the Minister had lamented the inadequacy of the funds provided for the Ministry in the 2025 budget proposal.
He said, “We have some challenges. One, we have an inadequate budgetary provision. The headquarters and civilian personnel unit are unable to meet their obligations resulting in the accumulation of debt on services and staff entitlement.
“We have non-payment and accumulated bills of group life Insurance, which is very important. The very important issues that we have is non-payment and accumulated bills of group life insurance for military personnel, which I requested from the committee for consideration of maybe the sum of 20 billion as an additional funds for payment of families of deceased military personnel. That is one of our challenges.
“Mr. Chairman, if you look at the budget of 2024, most of the barracks, the allocation we met is zero. How do we expect the personnel of the military to perform while their living standard is inadequate? All the provisions that we made, the allocation in 2024 is zero. And these are the people that we expect them to perform magic.
“And for us in the ministry, we have a lot of challenges. Look at the budget of 2025, just N50 billion. We have a shortfall of N18 billion of the last year’s budget and people expect the ministry to do wonders.
“I was in Sokoto. I went to Sokoto by myself. Nobody sponsored me to go to Sokoto. I did it just to ensure people’s sleep with two eyes closed. My colleague Badaru went to Zamfara and Katsina and it was the same thing because there is no provision in the budget.
“In fact, the Ministry of Defence is supposed to provide some equipment for some of the zones, but we cannot. Out of what we have in 2024, we were be able to provide just 20 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs).
“What can 20 APCs can do? In Katsina alone, if we can be able to have 50 APCs that can go inside Bush to flush out those criminals, I assure you, within two months, we’ll finish the issue of banditry. But there is no provision for that. People have been complaining that money is being given to defence but this is what we have. And people are expecting us to do extra things out of the budget.
“We cannot do it Mr. Chairman. So I believe this House will consider more funding to the Ministry of Defence so that even on our own as ministers we can be able to provide some equipment to some flush out these areas of attacks.
“Insecurity is all over the country. If you go to South West, South East, North East, North Central, North West. But if you look at the budget of 2025, N50 billion to the Ministry of Defense.
“Other people outside are thinking that the whole money of Nigeria is going into the Ministry of Defense. It is not like that. You know about that. We could not renovate any barracks in 2024. We have a lot of complaints. We cannot be able to pay some of their entitlement, the military.
“They are into theatres, operations, we cannot pay. In fact, this month, I had to write a letter to Mr. President to pay even the presidential guards. The money was not there. So Mr. Chairman, I believe this committee can look into the issue of the Ministry of Defence to see how you can be able to squeeze and add more funding to the ministry so as at least you can expect more from us.”
He however promised that despite the fact that with the limited resources, the ministry and the personnel are doing their best to ensure the safety of all citizens.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon Babajimi Benson, said the importance of the defence sector cannot be overstated as it is the backbone of the nation’s security architecture, tasked with addressing diverse threats that challenge our peace and stability.
He said over the years, the Armed Forces of Nigeria have demonstrated remarkable commitment and professionalism, achieving significant progress in countering insurgency, terrorism, banditry and other forms of insecurity.
Yet, he said, the dynamic nature of these challenges demands continuous adaptation and innovation.
Benson said recognizing this, the National Assembly has consistently prioritized the defence sector in the national budget, with increased allocations in recent years.
He said however, with these enhanced resources comes a heightened expectation for prudent, transparent and impactful utilization.
“As representatives of the people, it is our duty to ensure that every naira is judiciously spent to strengthen the operational capacity of the Armed Forces and deliver tangible results,” he said.
Also,The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs has rejected the envelop budgeting system by the federal government, saying it is not recognised by any law in Nigeria.
The Committee also faulted the allocation of only N286 million to service Nigeria’s 109 missions abroad.
Documents submitted by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Committee showed that the Ministry had recommended about N1.5 trillion budget, based on its needs assessment of the missions.
Speaking during an interactive session with the Ministry and the Budget Office of the Federation on Tuesday, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Wole Oke said “I have not seen anywhere in our laws where envelop budgeting is mentioned”, describing the budget as too poor for missions that were supposed to mirror the country’s image.
“We’re worried that what you submitted to Mr President was not based on needs assessment, and it is at varaice with the law”, he said.
In his presentation, Director General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu explained that budgetary allocation for the missions has been increased by 25 percent in the 2025 budget, urging the National Assembly to pass the tax reform Bills in order to boost the nation’s revenue generation.
He also recommended reduction in the number of foreign missions until a time that the country achieve a better revenue generation. “Why don’t we consider a significant reduction of our foreign missions until we’re able to improve our revenue”, he stated.
He also noted that his hands were tied on the envelop budgeting system.
“We have 109 diplomatic missions abroad, comprising of 76 embassies, 22 High Commissions and 11 Consulates. The problem as you rightly described is as ubiquitous as Nigeria’s present worldwide.
“The situation was certainly worse three years ago when Nigeria’s debt service was proclaim almost 100 percent of the country’s revenue. We start to see improvement under this administration, when through debt financial engineering in year one, debt service was brought from as high as 100 percent to 55 percent
“If you talk to our missions abroad, they will tell that last year was the year they started experiencing some relief. We’re still not there yet. Bold reforms have been embarked on by the current administration, starting with the liberalisation of the foreign exchange rate, and the withdrawal of subsidy on PMS and other products.
“We expect to save about N11 trillion from this two models adopted. The savings started to materialize in October last year, but the main beneficiaries, especially the state governments collected the money and kept mute, but we knew that they took a lot more than they have for several years.
“We have brought before the National Assembly, tax Bills that you’re considering, that we expect you to improve so that we’ll be able to collect more revenue
“Mr President has gone out of his way to inisit on 2.12 million barrels per day, a very ambitious target for oil output… He has seen that we must look for the revenue to be to attend to these needs. That’s why this year’s budget is ambitious. Last year, it was about N36 trillion but this year, it almost N50 trillion…
We have to continue to manage scarcity, whether we call it envelop budgeting”, he said.