The National Assembly on Monday raised concerns over President Bola Tinubu’s loan requests, following disclosures by some revenue-generating agencies that they had already exceeded their 2024 revenue targets.

Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Zacch Adedeji, revealed that the Federal Government generated ₦1.5 trillion in education tax, far surpassing its ₦70 billion target.

Adedeji shared this information during an interactive session with the National Assembly’s joint Committees on Finance, Budget, and National Planning on the 2025-2027 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

During separate presentations to the joint committees on the 2024 budget performance and revenue projections for the proposed ₦49.7 trillion 2025 budget, revenue-generating agencies reported exceeding their 2024 fiscal year targets.

The disclosure of surplus education tax revenue emerged against the backdrop of widespread complaints about recent increases in school fees.

FIRS Chairman Zacch Adedeji revealed that while the target for Company Income Tax was ₦4 trillion, the government has already realized ₦5.7 trillion.

“On Education tax, while N70bn was targeted, a total of N1.5tn has been realised.

“All in all, out of N19.4tn targeted for 2024 fiscal year, N18.5tn was realised as of the end of September, which clearly shows that the target, will be far exceeded by the end of the year,” he boasted.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPCL) Mele Kyari, disclosed during his presentation that the company has already surpassed its ₦12.3 trillion revenue projection for 2024, generating ₦13.1 trillion to date.

He said, “For the 2025 fiscal year, N23.7tn is projected by the NNPCL to be remitted into the Federation Account.”

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, revealed in his presentation that as of September 30, the agency had generated ₦5.35 trillion in revenue, surpassing its ₦5.09 trillion target for the entire 2024 fiscal year.

He further stated that the projected revenue for 2025 is ₦6.3 trillion, with a planned 10% increase in targets for 2026 and another 10% increase for the 2027 fiscal year.

Impressed by the impressive revenue performance, members of the Senator Sani Musa-led joint committees questioned why the Federal Government continues to pursue foreign loans despite the significant growth in Internally Generated Revenue.

Specifically, Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP Kebbi Central), who first asked the question said, “What is the Federal Government doing with excess revenues generated by the various agencies in view of its unending request for foreign loan approval?”

In response, the FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, explained that the loans being sought by the executive were already included in the provisions of the Appropriation Act.

Adedeji said, “Borrowing is part of what has been approved by the National Assembly for the Federal Government, meaning that the executive borrows based on approval of the legislature.

“The fact that we meet revenue targets and even surpassed them as revenue-generating agencies does not mean that the borrowing component of an appropriation law, passed by the National Assembly, should not be activated,” he said.

Echoing a similar justification, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, reminded federal lawmakers that the borrowing plans outlined in the ₦35.5 trillion 2024 budget were primarily intended to cover the ₦9.7 trillion deficit.

“Despite revenue targets surpassing by some of the revenue-generating agencies, the government still needs to borrow for proper funding of the budget, particularly in the area of deficit and productivity for the poorest and most vulnerable.

“We have a long-term development perspective plan agenda 2050 aiming at GDP per capita of $33,000,” he explained.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, also informed federal lawmakers that borrowing remained necessary to adequately fund the budget, despite the increased revenues generated by some agencies.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Immigration Service faced intense scrutiny during the interactive session over a controversial Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for passport production, which allocated 70% of the proceeds to a consultancy firm while the government retained only 30%.

Committee Chairman, Senator Sani Musa, demanded that the Immigration Service submit all documents related to the questionable PPP arrangement to the committee before the end of the week.

“The so-called PPP arrangement must be reviewed or cancelled because Nigeria and Nigerians are seriously being short-changed, “ he fumed.

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