The House of Representatives committee on Appropriation insist that there are prospects of generating revenue beyond the projected N18.32 trillion in the 2024 budget.

In effect, the chairman of the committee, Mr Abubakar Kabir Bichi has directed heads of the government owned enterprises (GOEs) in the mould of the Nigeria national petroleum corporation limited (NNPCL), the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS), federal inland revenue service (FIRS), Nigeria maritime administration and safety agency (NIMASA), the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), among others to appear before the committee on Monday to rub minds with the committee on how to achieve the goal.

Bichi who spoke during the proceedings of the committee insists GOE’s declaration of revenue target was supposed to be far ahead of the projected target in view of the potentials of the country.

Bichi noted that reducing the burden of Nigeria’s debt profile, sectoral budgetary allocations, and the dynamics of budget releases, economic diversification strategies, revenue generation forecasts is needed to facilitate the effective implementation of the Appropriations Act, 2024.

The Kano born lawmaker insisted more monies are needed to fix the infrastructural deficits in tandem with the Renewed Hope agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration.

He noted: “While the revised MTEF and FSP showed that revenue-generating efforts by the present administration are already yielding fruit, more needs to be done to ensure that government-owned enterprises optimize their revenue-generating potential.”

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, who appeared before the lawmakers underlined the need to boost revenue generation to ensure the growth of the country.

The minister explained that the resolve by the government to expend N100 billion for the Sustainable Agriculture Fund, boost electricity generation, and ease the procurement process was aimed at achieving the goal.

“We need a budget that can be trusted. We don’t have money; we are looking for money, so that is why we need to interrogate the revenue-generating agencies,” he noted.

The Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha intimated the lawmakers that Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N87.38 trillion both external and domestic in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, of which the federal government accounts for 97 percent of the debt.

Expressing support for the effort to boost revenue generation, she contended that there was nothing wrong with borrowing as long as it is well untilized judiciously by the authorities.

The 2024 Proposed Budget presented by President Tinubu referred to as “Budget of Renewed Hope” is a N27.5 trillion ($ 32.76 billion) budget reflecting an increase from the N21.83 trillion approved in 2023.

The 2024 Proposed Budget has a projected revenue of N18.32 trillion ($24.4 billion) and a deficit of N9.18 trillion ($12.2 billion).
The Proposed Budget is expected to focus on infrastructure development, human capital investment and economic diversification. In terms of sectoral allocation, defense and security got the highest, followed by education and health in that order.