N’Assembly approves Tinubu’s N1.15tr loan request
The House of Representatives has launched an investigation into the alleged utilisation of over N12 trillion by Nigeria’s Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) over the last seven years, as well as over N20 trillion worth of abandoned Federal Government properties and projects, shedding light on decades of mismanagement, neglect, and fiscal waste.
Meanwhile, the two houses of the National Assembly have approved President Bola 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 probe is being conducted by an ad hoc committee chaired by Chidi Mark Obetta, tasked with assessing the impact, fund management and performance of DFIs across the country.
Speaking during the committee’s inauguration at the National Assembly complex yesterday, Obetta thanked the leadership of the House for entrusting the panel with a mandate central to Nigeria’s economic stability and development.
He highlighted the critical role of DFIs – including the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) and Infrastructure Bank – in bridging financing gaps left by commercial banks, supporting industrialisation, agriculture, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and infrastructure development.
However, Obetta noted that recent reports and sector commentary have raised concerns over accountability, fund utilisation, and the overall performance of the institutions. Preliminary estimates indicate that inflows into DFIs – including government capital injections, budget appropriations, bond issuances, concessional loans, and donor funding – exceed N12 trillion, a figure the committee intends to independently verify.
“The committee’s mandate is to determine how effectively these institutions have fulfilled their objectives, how funds have been deployed, and what measurable outcomes – such as jobs created, industries strengthened, and livelihoods improved – have been achieved,” Obetta said.
The committee plans to engage extensively with key stakeholders, including DFI management, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Finance, development partners, industry experts, and beneficiaries of DFI interventions.
The other probe into the N20 trillion worth of abandoned federal government properties and projects across followed a motion, yesterday, by Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) during plenary presided over by Speaker Abass Tajudeen.
Chinda cited a 2021 report by the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), which revealed that 11,866 federal projects remain unfinished nationwide.
He warned that 63 per cent of federal projects since Independence had been abandoned, highlighting high-profile examples such as the Federal Secretariat Complex in Lagos, the Millennium Tower and National Library in Abuja, the NIPOST Headquarters, the FIRS Building in Abia, the Kaduna Textile Building, and the Nigerian Iron Melting Company in Delta State.
“Since 2000, when the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) under former President Olusegun Obasanjo was set up, official reports have still not been submitted,” Chinda said. “Years of neglect have weakened structures, escalated costs and wasted billions of taxpayers’ naira.”
He called for the adoption of public-private partnerships (PPP) to salvage some of the stalled projects, warning that without intervention, further value would be lost to decay and obsolescence.
In response, the House established an ad hoc committee chaired by Amos Magaji (APC, Kaduna) to verify the state of abandoned properties and review the PIC report. The panel has six weeks to identify infractions and recommend actions against agencies and contractors found culpable.
The decision to approve the borrowing followed the adoption of a report by the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, led by Abubakar Nalaraba, during plenary yesterday. At the red chamber, the approval followed the adoption of the report by the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, which highlighted a shortfall created by the increase in the budget size.
It came barely two weeks after the House gave its nod to a separate $2.3 billion external borrowing plan requested by the President.
Since assuming office in May 2023, 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.
Deputy Senate Committee Chairman Manu Haruna explained that the N59.99 trillion budget passed by the National Assembly exceeded the Executive’s initial proposal of N54.74 trillion, resulting in a N5.25 trillion deficit.
Since the original borrowing plan approved by the Executive was N12.95 trillion, an unfunded gap of N1.147 trillion emerged, necessitating additional domestic borrowing.
“It is, therefore, necessary to increase the domestic borrowing limit in the 2025 budget to close this gap,” Haruna said.
The committee recommended that the Federal Ministry of Finance and Debt Management Office (DMO) undertake the borrowing strictly within approved fiscal parameters, ensuring transparency, sustainability and favourable terms.
The Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts will oversee the implementation, receive quarterly reports, monitor compliance with debt sustainability thresholds, and report deviations to the Senate.
