The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs on Tuesday criticized the Federal Government’s envelope budgeting system for its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, calling it inadequate, and rejected the allocation of only N286 million to service Nigeria’s 109 missions abroad.
Documents submitted by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Committee, chaired by Rep. Busayo Oluwole Oke, showed that the Ministry had recommended a budget of about N1.5 trillion, based on a needs assessment of the missions.
Speaking during an interactive session with the Ministry and the Budget Office of the Federation on Tuesday, during the 2025 Budget defense, Chairman of the Committee Rep. Oke said, “I have not seen anywhere in our laws where envelope budgeting is mentioned,” describing the budget as too insufficient for missions that were supposed to represent the country’s image.
“We’re worried that what you submitted to Mr. President was not based on needs assessment, and it is at variance with the law,” he added.
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In his presentation, Director General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, explained that the budget allocation for the missions had been increased by 25 percent in the 2025 budget. He also urged the National Assembly to pass the tax reform bills to boost the nation’s revenue generation.
Yakubu recommended a reduction in the number of foreign missions until the country achieved better revenue generation. “Why don’t we consider a significant reduction of our foreign missions until we’re able to improve our revenue?” he stated.
According to him, “We have 109 diplomatic missions abroad, comprising 76 embassies, 22 high commissions, and 11 consulates. The problem, as you rightly described, is as ubiquitous as Nigeria’s present global situation.
“The situation was certainly worse three years ago when Nigeria’s debt service consumed almost 100 percent of the country’s revenue. However, we started to see improvement under this administration when, through debt financial engineering in the first year, debt service was reduced from as high as 100 percent to 55 percent.
“If you talk to our missions abroad, they will tell you that last year was the year they started experiencing some relief. We’re still not there yet. Bold reforms have been implemented by the current administration, starting with the liberalization of the foreign exchange rate and the removal of the subsidy on PMS and other products.
“We expect to save about N11 trillion from these two models. The savings started to materialize in October last year, but the main beneficiaries, especially the state governments, collected the money and kept silent. However, we know they took much more than they have for several years.
“We have brought before the National Assembly tax bills that you’re considering, which we expect you to improve so that we’ll be able to collect more revenue.
“Mr. President has gone out of his way to insist on 2.12 million barrels per day, a very ambitious target for oil output… He has recognized that we must seek revenue to address these needs. That’s why this year’s budget is ambitious. Last year, it was about N36 trillion, but this year, it’s almost N50 trillion.
“We have to continue to manage scarcity, whether we call it envelope budgeting,” he said.
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