Budget: FG Seeks MTEF Amendment, Lowers Revenue Projection By N342bn
President Muhammadu Buhari will, on Thursday, present the 2022 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, gave the hint on Tuesday after reading and referring Buhari’s submission of the revised 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper to the Committee on Finance for necessary legislative input.
The President in a letter to both chambers of the National Assembly, dated October 4, 2021, explained that the revision was necessitated by the need to reflect the new fiscal terms in the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, as well as other critical expenditures in the 2022 budget.
He said the underlying drivers of the 2022 fiscal projections, such as oil price benchmark, oil production volume, exchange rate, GDP growth, and inflation rate reflected emergent realities and the macroeconomic outlook, and remained unchanged in the previously approved 2022-2024 MTEF/FSP.
He said, “The PIA established a progressive fiscal framework aimed at encouraging investment in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry.
“This significantly alters the oil and gas fiscal terms and has necessitated changes in the 2022-2024 Medium Term Fiscal Framework.
“The fiscal effects of PIA implementation are assumed to kick in by mid-year 2022.
“The revised 2022-2024 Fiscal Framework is premised on hybrid of January-June (based on current fiscal regime) and July-December (based on PIA fiscal regime), while 2023 and 2024 are now fully based on the PIA.”
Buhari listed the changes to the 2022 Fiscal Framework projections to include gross revenue projection which decreased by N341.57bn.
He said it decreased from N8.87tn to N8.53tn.
He also announced a decrease in the deductions for federally funded upstream projects costs and 13 per cent derivation by N335.3bn and N810.2m respectively. Net oil and gas revenue projection declined by N5.42bn from N6.54tn to N6.54tn.
Buhari added that also to be modified in the fiscal framework was a decline in net oil and gas revenue by N5.42bn and an increase in projected FGN’s retained revenue from N8.36tn to N10.13tn.
Giving a breakdown of the projected increase in Federal Government’s revenue, he said N837.76bn was from increase in revenue of Government Owned Enterprises; N697.6bn from MDAs Internally Generated Revenue.
The increase, he added, also affected the introduction of education tax of N306bn and dividend of N8.3bn from the bank of industry as revenue lines.
The FGN share of oil price royalty was put at N96.9bn which is expected to be transferred to the Nigerian Sovereignty Investment Authority based on the provisions of the PIA.
He added that the FGN aggregate expenditure (including GOEs and Projected-tied Loans) was projected to increase by N2.47tn, from N13.98tn to N16.45tn.
Buhari noted that the increase in expenditure was due to N100bn additional provision for INEC to cater for the 2023 General Elections; and the provision of N54bn for NASENI, which represents one per cent FGN share of the Federation Account.
Others are additional provision of N510bn in the Service Wide Votes to cater for National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (N300bn), and police operations fund (N50bn).
There is also hazard allowance for health workers (N50bn), Public Service Wage Adjustments (additional N80bn), and MDAs’ Electricity Bills Debt (additional N37bn); and additional capital provision of N1.70tn.
He explained that the provision for additional capital in the framework was as a result of projected increases in capital supplementation by N179.1bn; GOEs capital by N222.1bn; TETFUND expenditure by N290.7bn; Multi-lateral/Bi-lateral Project-tied Loans by N517.5bn; and MDAs capital expenditure by N390.5bn (including N178.1bn provision for population and housing census to be carried out in 2022.
The Deputy Senate President, after reading the president’s letter referred same to the Committee on Finance.
The Committee which is Chaired by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola was mandated to report back Wednesday (today).
Gbajabiamila overrules faulting hurried passage of revised MTEF
After reading Buhari’s letter, Gbajabiamila blocked the demands by several members to subject the revised MTEF to full legislative process on technical grounds.
A ranking member of the House, Nicholas Ossai, had cited Order 12, Rule 19, saying the new MTEF presented by Buhari should be debated by the lawmakers.
The Speaker, however, ruled him out of order.
The Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, also raised a point of order to insist that the lawmakers debate the revised MTEF, stressing that the revision of the document means that changes would be made to it.
Gbajabiamila also overruled Elumelu out of order.
