N54.99trn budget insufficient, but it’ll turn around economy- Senator Sani

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Musa Sani, says despite its shortfall, the recently passed N54.99trn budget for 2025 will address issues affecting Nigerians. In this interview on Channels TV’ Politics Today’ monitored by David Lawani, the erudite Senator urged President Bola Tinubu to sign the bill into law

The budget has increased from N49.77trn to N54.99trn. Can you give a summary of how you arrived at that figure?

I want to use this medium to commend ourselves because we have done a good job even though we have been able to reach the time limit of these successes. We have done what we need to do for this country by surpassing this appropriation act. We have passed it. The parameters you want to know about the highlights are there. It was N49.77trn that Mr President brought, and we eventually passed it at N54.99trn. The National Assembly has to appropriate whatever the executive presents because it is like a proposal. I want to commend President Bola Tinubu for bringing this budget and not just bringing it but allowing the National Assembly to look at it critically, assess it, and say look, it is workable for this country without any interference. When he presented this budget, it was N49.77trn, but once the budget was committed to the Budget Committee on Finance and Appropriation, we compared it with what we already had from the budget office. We looked at all the budget office’s submissions from various MDAs. We looked at the country’s revenue profile. If we compare what we had in 2023 and 2024, 2025 is quite different. In so doing, we decided to take up three days of exercise to review and ask questions. We looked at the performances of these MDAs and other relevant government agencies to see why we are getting the figures from the budget office, which is also part of the proposal that Mr President presented. Looking at it, we reviewed it, and we called almost about 64 agencies, four GOEs, which are all part of the government. We looked at the budget projections and performances, and we saw that there is room for more. We looked at operating surpluses. What have they remitted in the last two years and last year? What are we expecting them to remit this year? I will also commend the government for initiating technology into the collection because we will get more than what we are getting today. From what we have done, we found out that during custom service, we have made close to N1.4trn, and what has been presented is the fact that they have so many lines of revenue collection. Some levies they are placing do not translate to saying that they will get more. We will use the exercise to block the leakages we are seeing. We also looked at the other GOEs, where you will see that a GOE will receive revenue in so much and so much, but at the end of the day, the agency will remit just a little money to the consolidated revenue fund. We realised that there are overheads. Suppose you say you are realising money and your operational cost. In that case, you are serving yourself and not receiving anything from the National Assembly. We expect you will limit your expenditure to exactly what you require, allowing you to collect more revenue. Whatever is in excess should go to the consolidated revenue fund. We calculated for many of these GOEs, and we were able to save close to N1.8trn into the budget. We also looked at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). We looked at their cost of collection and how they have been able to transform, especially in their collection, using technology. They have been able to do quite a lot, and the projection they give us for 2025 allows us to get more revenue in terms of the surpluses that will go to the consolidated revenue fund. We saved about N1.97trn there, which we also added to the appropriation bill. Let me tell you something that will give you some hope. When Mr President presented that budget of N49.77trn, we looked at it, and after our exercise, we brought N4.5trn more into the budget, and not a single addition was made.

What happened that we saw some additions?

You would recall that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, recently called off all the activities of USAID, and you know this agency has been supporting many developing nations in the areas of health. They have been supporting so many programmes like HIV and tuberculosis. What are we supposed to do if the funds that used to take care of these programmes are no longer available? We must look inwardly and see where we can quickly generate more money. When we create this money, we now put it in the appropriation. The good thing is that the N4.5trn, in addition, we got what Mr. President has directed, that no money should be allocated just like that. He said we should prioritise everything. Today, the Bank of Agriculture will come back on stream. It has a capitalisation of about N1trn, which is a good thing. You will see military aviation that has been fighting insecurity. You can see how the government has reduced our insecurity in this country. Also, the government is looking at the way that inflation can come down, and that is the reason why Mr President believes that the National Assembly should go ahead and look at the possibility of approving these funds for the Bank of Agriculture so that the small farmers and cooperatives will be able to access funds quickly. We will have a bumper harvest not only during the rainy season but also during the dry season with irrigation. If you look at the aggregate expenditure put into the budget, the sum of N54.9trn, which translates to only about $30bn, you will know that Nigeria deserves this budget. By next year, Mr President will look inwardly again to generate more funds so that our budget will go up and we can touch on all the infrastructures. You can see that the legacy projects have not been left out. The renewed hope infrastructure has not been left and will be adequately funded. If you go to the statutory, the government has made available about N3.6trn to take care of that. If you look at the current expenditure, we have about N13.046trn.

The crude oil benchmark was set at $74 per barrel, crude oil production at 2.6 million barrels per day, and the exchange rate at N1500 to a dollar. Do you think this is realistic for us to achieve?

The Senate Committee on Finance called on the NNPC CEO. She appeared and the economic team as a whole. They appeared before the committee, and we asked them questions. We were convinced by what they said and practically saw it happening. As of yesterday, the figure I have seen is that Nigeria is able to produce close to about 1.65m barrels per day. And this is just within the first half of the first quarter. Looking at the end of Q1, we can aggregate it to see that we should be able to hit about two million barrels per day between now and the next four to five months. And from what I have heard, the CEO of NNPC said that all the issues we used to have are adequately being taken care of. If you look at the cash crops, the government can sufficiently handle that side. If you look at the reconciliation as of October last year, the government has been able to start stabilizing the new petroleum pricing. Based on all these parameters, we believe that we will be able to meet our targets. And the 1500 to a dollar, you can see how the dollar has stabilised in this country’s history. Since we abridge, you will hear black market rates in those days. But by comparing the prices and the official rate, you will see that it is about 40 to 50 percent.

Experts say the figure of two million barrels per day is far from reality. Don’t you think, given our issues, this projection is beyond realisation?

If going by the words of Mr President, Nigeria should be producing more than two million barrels per day. If you look at mappings and joint ventures, how long has there been any investment in the oil sector in this country? Until when this administration came. We have seen an occasion when one of the major oil companies came up with an investment plan of close to how many billion dollars. If that money and investment is coming, I do not see why we should not be able to reach close to about 2.2 or 2.5m barrels per day. If you look at the NUPRP plan for the one million addition they are working on today. I knew a team in Kigali was working on how exploration would boom. So, looking at the projections, I am not talking about just numbers; I am talking about reality. As a Nigerian, if we are serious even as of today, this 2.6 is achievable. We will meet our targets based on what we have seen and all the NNPCL and NUPR commitments. I was at the NNPCL, and I have heard the presentation done. If we apply this policy to the latter, we will achieve all the parameters we have set.

What are the justifications for our ability to produce over two million barrels per day as projected?

Looking at the last three to four years, you will sympathise with this country, especially regarding oil theft. Since the inception of this administration, measures have been taken to curb theft and whoever is doing that stealing. We must give kudos to Mr President that today, even OPEC has said we are at the range of 1.7m barrels per day. We just passed the Appropriation Act today to see a change in that sector within the next month. That is not all about it. I will not discuss the numbers but my engagement with NNPCL and NUPRC. We have been talking about the metering system in this country for a very long time. But Mr. President has taken the bull by the horns and said we must bring a metering system. We will not need the IOCs where the producers tell us something else. We will need to have our meters in IOCs. And terminals. All the oil terminals are supposed to have a metering system. And today, with advanced technology, you will be in Abuja here, and you will know what is flowing right there, what is being taken out from the wells, and what is going through the pipelines to the Escravos or any of the Jetties. And is being taken out of this country. What is even taking into account technology today? Mr. President has insisted that technology must be applied in that direction. This brings us to the issue of what is being captured in the PIA, especially regarding the volume of oil production in this country. We have done a very good job in the PIA. The NNPCL and NUPR must start implementing whatever we have made as a law. If we do that, reaching 2.00 will not be a problem. And, again, if you look at the next act, which also gives room for oil exploration and monitoring, as well as the non-oil sector If you notice our MTEL report, the approval by the national assembly we are supposed to look at the next act so that we will make sure that even if you are an inspector, you must have a monitoring system by two meter so that we will know actually what is being produced. Not that what IOCs will tell us they are making.

How Nigerians can be able to live with the inflation rate that we are experiencing?

Mr President has looked at these reasons, and for that, he said Nigeria cannot continue to look for a monolithic economy. We have to diversify, and based on his ideas and ambition of diversification, he now brings in the non-oil sector, and it will boom. Nigeria has the potential to take care of its budget adequately, even without putting too much pressure on the oil. The Bonga oil exploration will not yield until two years or more. What is essential in this country is for investment to come into this country, and that has been done. The most important thing is that if such an investment is made in this country, things will improve; Mr. President has done something to stabilise many things. He has brought about the mining sector; you will see what he has put in from this budget, like stabilisation with the mining sector. Why is he doing that? He is trying to see how he can expand the scope of revenue.

Can you compare the outgoing investment with the FDI?

When you talk about the investment leaving this country and the FDI, have you been able to compare the imports coming into this country? The question is why they are going.

The economy is in trouble. What can you say that the economic team told you about how we can get out of this doldrums?

I can recall the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, who had an engagement with the economic team when we were calling them. He emphatically said look, we need to translate whatever we have in numbers to reach out to our constituents, and every representative concern is how to reach and take the goodies to our people. We want to see Nigeria doing very well. So far, from October 2024, the Nigerian economy has taken an utterly dynamic look. The future will be bright; remember, the decay has been there for a long time. And there is no way you can tell me there is hardship today and tomorrow; the hardship is gone. It is going to be gradual. If you look at the scope of every change in inflation and GDP, why don’t you hear GDP jumps from 10 to 20 or 30? You will never hear that. We are moving slowly. I can assure you that the economy is not in bad shape. Nigeria recently did a Eurobond. And when we went for the market Eurobond, people had confidence in the economy. The people who subscribed to it were about N9.1bn oversubscribed, which tells you the economy is good. The rating agency is getting us up now. That is another area to show you that the economy is not doing badly, so we have seen a lot of indices. Nigeria’s budget of over $30 billion is not good enough for this country. South Africa, with a population of about 45 million, do things where we have more of everything, whereas we have more than them. Tell you, why are they doing more than us? Our revenue targets are not about imposing taxes on people. But we have to block some of the loopholes.

Are you worried that this government is following some of the policies and programmes of international agencies?

I won’t be able to comment on that. I haven’t seen anything to prove that any other country, agency, or organisation influences how we run our economy