Senate okays FG’s $500m loan request as govt records N318.5b revenue in Q1

The Senate has approved a $500 million loan request by the Federal Government to increase access of more Nigerians to prepaid electricity meters.

The money, which is a component of the $7.94 billion 2022-2024 borrowing plan, was approved specifically for the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) for execution of the Nigeria Distribution Sector Recovery Programme, and is to be sourced from the World Bank.

The Senate had earlier delayed approval of the $500 million because the BPE was unavailable to defend it when it was scheduled to appear before its committees.

However, after the borrowing was satisfactorily defended, the Senate, yesterday, gave its approval in a unanimous decision.

This came as Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, disclosed that the total revenue inflow to the Federal Government in the first quarter of 2024 was N318.5 billion.

She however stated that this was against the total expected revenue of N2.591 trillion, saying a reconciliation of the figures was still ongoing and what was declared was what was available at the moment.

She disclosed this during a hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance to monitor revenue by agencies of the Federal Government.

Represented by the Director, Revenue Expenses, Felix Ogundayero, she expressed confidence that 2024 would be an exceptional year in terms of revenue, based on the policies of the current administration. She added that the bottom-up cash planning policy would be adopted in implementing the 2024 budget.

Chairman of the committee, James Faleke, said the essence of the sitting was in line with duty as a parliament to oversight; to ensure that revenue estimates submitted by each agency before the 2024 appropriation bill was passed into law were met.

He said: “We want to ensure that revenue activities from January to March are in line with your appropriation. When you are giving us your figure, you tell us what the figure was expected for the generation and what you have achieved. Also, tell us your expenditure.”