The expected revenue in the 2024 budget has been designated “inadequate” by the House Appropriations Committee.
This was mentioned by the Committee’s Chairman, Abubakar Bichi, on Friday during a budget defense session.
He claimed that government-owned enterprises, or GEOs, had not declared enough money, and that revenue-generating agencies should be forced to declare more.
President Bola Tinubu presented the 2024 budget, which had a total expenditure of N27.5 trillion and income of N18 trillion.
“The declaration, we feel like it is not enough — if you consider the critical projects which have been captured in this budget. You can see a 60 km project that is worth N60 billion but you only have N1 billion in the budget, which will take 40 years to complete.
“We need to sit down with GEOs, they need to come up with more money so that we can support the President,” Bichi said.
Speaking on revenue, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu also acknowledged that the estimated revenue is too small to address the budget.
He stated that the President has directed ministers to think “outside the box” on funding projects outside the Appropriations Bill.
Bagudu said the revenue estimate of Nigeria is too poor compared to other countries with similar population sizes.
“Of the 10 most populous countries in the world, we have the smallest budget. Mexico with 120 million people have about 314 billion dollars in annual budget. Brazil which follows us in population ranking has about $700 billion federal budget.
“The only country that we are close to is Pakistan which is not resources endowed as us. But even Pakistan their federal budget for 2024 is 45 billion US dollars. In dollar terms, even at N750 exchange rate, we are about $35 billion,” he said.
The committee summoned government-owned enterprises, including Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, and others.
They are to appear in person on Monday by 10 am.