President Bola Tinubu has asked the National Assembly to approve a domestic borrowing plan of N1.15 trillion to cover the funding gap in the 2025 budget.
The request, contained in a letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, explained that the deficit arose following an upward adjustment of the national budget by lawmakers beyond the executive’s initial revenue and borrowing projections.
Tinubu said the proposal was made in accordance with Section 44 (1–2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007, which requires legislative approval for all new borrowings by the federal government.
“I write to kindly request the approval of the National Assembly to establish a N1,150,000,000,000 borrowing programme in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded deficit gap created by the increase in the budget size over and above the prior approved revenue and borrowing plans,” the president stated in the letter.
He recalled that the National Assembly had passed a N59.9 trillion budget — an increase of N5.25 trillion over the N54.65 trillion originally proposed by the executive — resulting in a total deficit of N14 trillion.
According to Tinubu, the budget already provided for N12.95 trillion in borrowing, leaving an unfunded shortfall of about N1.15 trillion, which the new borrowing request seeks to address.
“It is therefore necessary to increase the domestic borrowing limit in the 2025 budget by N1.147 trillion to close this gap,” the president said.
