In order to evaluate the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), the Senate has given the executive branch of government two weeks to provide a thorough, documented report on the implementation of the 2024 budget, together with forecasts for the 2025 fiscal year.
President Bola Tinubu’s economic team, headed by Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun, met with the Senate Committee on Finance at the National Assembly in Abuja to issue the directive.
Senator Sani Musa, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, stated in his ultimatum that the senate would not begin deliberations on the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) and the 2026–2028 MTEF until it had a clear performance report of the current year’s budget.
Senator Musa declared, “We cannot move forward with the MTEF until we have a better understanding of the 2024 budget’s performance to date.”
In order to examine the 2026 MTEF, we give you until October 23 to respond and provide a written report.
The Senate Calls for Openness in Budgetary Planning
In order for parliamentarians to evaluate the fiscal estimates and economic assumptions included in the MTEF, Musa emphasized that they need precise performance statistics.
In order to conduct credible fiscal planning, he emphasized that the committee’s analysis would concentrate on revenue performance, expenditure trends, and project implementation under the 2024 budget.
The Senate will not accept assumptions-based estimates. For public finance to be accountable, we need data, facts, and validated performance reports,” the senator continued.
Ahead of the 2025 budget cycle, discussions on Nigeria’s macroeconomic outlook and fiscal policy direction were conducted by Finance Minister Wale Edun, one of the important members of the President’s economic team that attended the meeting.
The Senate’s stance highlights members’ mounting worries about the 2024 budget’s implementation rate, namely with relation to capital releases, revenue shortages, and debt service commitments.
The annual budgets are based on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which lays out the government’s fiscal policy priorities and spending caps over a three-year period.
Before the Senate considers the next budgetary plan, the Federal Government must provide a thorough and verifiable report outlining the extent to which the 2024 budget has been executed. The deadline has been moved to October 23.
