President Bola Tinubu has asked the House of Representatives to approve a N1.15 trillion borrowing programme in the domestic debt market.
Spokesman of the House of Reps, Akin Rotimi, in a statement, said the request was received by the House on Wednesday and referred to the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management for scrutiny.
The letter conveying his request with the title “Request for the Approval of the National Assembly for a Borrowing Programme to Fund the 2025 Budget Deficit,” was dated October 31, 2025, and addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen.
The letter was read on the floor of the House on Wednesday during plenary by the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, who presided over the session.
According to the letter, the request is necessitated by the increase in the total size of the 2025 Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly, which resulted in an unfunded deficit gap.
The president’s correspondence explained that he National Assembly passed a total budget of N59.99 Trillion, representing an increase of N5.25 trillion from the N49.74 trillion initially proposed by the executive.
He noted that this increase resulted in a total budget deficit of N14.10 trillion, with the borrowing amount originally approved in the budget to be N12.95 trillion, leaving an unfunded deficit of N1,147,462,863,321.39, approximately N1.15 Trillion.
“The President noted that the request is in line with Section 44 (1–2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007, which requires the approval of the National Assembly for all new borrowings by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“In keeping with its constitutional mandate to ensure fiscal prudence and transparency in national financial management, the House of Representatives has referred the request to the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management for further scrutiny.
“The Committee has been mandated to commence legislative consideration of the request and report back to the House for further action.
“This referral demonstrates the commitment of the House to uphold the principles of fiscal responsibility, debt sustainability, and accountability in the implementation of the 2025 Budget,” the statement said.
