Medium Term Expenditure Framework: President Tinubu to make key submission to national assembly

Next week, President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to deliver the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the National Assembly.

Ahead of the document’s release, the Senate’s banking Committee is already getting ready to meet with important players in the banking industry.

Nigeria’s national budget is based on the MTEF, a constitutionally required framework that lays out policy plans and economic forecasts for the next fiscal year.

The MTEF must be provided to the National Assembly before the official budget plan, under the legislation.

Senate spokesperson Yemi Adaramodu (APC, Ekiti South) confirmed the anticipated timeframe to Punch, saying the MTEF paper will come next week and that the national budget presentation would follow after it was finished.

Adaramodu said, “The MTEF document will be forwarded to the National Assembly next week for review, in anticipation of the President’s budget presentation.

“We are committed to doing our best with the budget, as we have always done.”

He assured Nigerians of the Senate’s commitment to a thorough review of the 2025 budget promptly upon its presentation.

He stated, “The budget has not been submitted yet, but we expect communication from the Presidency soon.

“Just as we did with the 2024 appropriation, the National Assembly will handle the 2025 budget with utmost scrutiny and urgency, delivering appropriately to meet the expectations of Nigerians.”

When the President returned from his foreign activities, the Senate had already said that the Federal Government would present the MTEF and Fiscal Strategy Paper immediately after.

Additionally, the House of Representatives stated that when the President sends both the MTEF and the 2025 Appropriations Bill, it would have sufficient time to thoroughly examine both proposals.

Two months before the end of 2024, House member Clement Jimbo called attention to the fact that the 2025 budget projections had not yet been provided to the National Assembly on October 16, 2024.

The House argued that the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 allowed for the careful consideration and approval of the MTEF, FSP, and 2025 budget projections, but questioned how much time was left before the year ended.

Additionally, it contended that Section 11(1)(b) required the Federal Government to draft and present an MTEF to the National Assembly for the upcoming three fiscal years no later than four months before the start of the following fiscal year.

To allow it to examine both papers by the January-December budget cycle, the legislative body then requested the Federal Government to send the budget estimates and MTEF right away.

In an interview with Punch, the House’s deputy spokesperson, Philip Agbese, stated that while the House wanted the Presidency to send the papers as quickly as possible, what mattered most was the thorough examination Nigerians anticipated from the legislature.

He said, “The reasoning of the parliament and that of Mr Speaker Tajudeen Abbas is that it is not how quick and fast but the meticulous work done on the 2025 budget proposal.

“We are proud of the performances of the Ministers of Finance and Budget and National Planning. We are confident as a parliament that the MTEF will be in within a record time and Mr President will subsequently transmit the budget to the National Assembly.”