The House of Representatives on Wednesday granted approval for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu‘s proposal to source an additional N1.15 trillion from the domestic debt market to bridge the funding gap in the 2025 national budget.

The decision followed the adoption of a report by the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, led by Abubakar Nalaraba, during Wednesday’s plenary session.

It comes barely two weeks after the House gave its nod to a separate $2.3 billion external borrowing plan as requested by the President.

Since assuming office in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu’s administration has secured substantial external financing to support government programmes and fiscal operations.

Nalaraba, while presenting the report, explained that the new borrowing plan was necessitated by the upward review of the 2025 Appropriation Act, which pushed total expenditure beyond the original revenue and borrowing projections earlier approved by the National Assembly.

Following the presentation, the House dissolved into the Committee of Supply for immediate consideration of the report.

Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu presided over the session as chairman of the Committee of Supply, where the report was considered clause by clause before it was approved.

With the endorsement, the Federal Government has been authorised to proceed with the domestic borrowing to cover the outstanding fiscal shortfall.

Tinubu’s request, conveyed in a letter dated October 31 and read to members by Kalu during plenary last week, cited Section 44 (1–2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, which mandates legislative consent before any new borrowing by the Federal Government.

The lawmakers had previously expanded the 2025 budget from the N49.74 trillion proposed by the Executive to N59.99 trillion, resulting in a deficit of N14.10 trillion.

Out of this, N12.95 trillion had already been captured under existing borrowing provisions, leaving a shortfall of N1.15 trillion to be sourced domestically.

Two weekes ago, the lawmakers approved Tinubu’s request to borrow $2.35 billion and issue a $500 million sovereign sukuk to fund key infrastructure projects and finance part of the 2025 budget deficit.

The approval followed the report of the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, which endorsed Tinubu’s plan to raise funds from the international capital market in line with the 2025 Appropriation Act.

The borrowing plan includes $1.229 billion in new loans to bridge the N9.27 trillion budget deficit and $1.118 billion to refinance a Eurobond maturing in November 2025 — bringing the total to $2.347 billion.

Tinubu said the funds would be raised through Eurobonds, loan syndication, bridge financing, or direct borrowing from international financial institutions, depending on market conditions.

He assured that the Finance Ministry and the Debt Management Office would work with advisers to secure favourable terms for the loans.