The Senate Wednesday resolved to probe all tax waivers by the federal government from 2015 to date, just as it sought for cancellation of those not directly linked to non – governmental / non – profit organisations.
It also ordered for deregistration of all subsidiaries to the Nigeria Postal Service ( NIPOST ) being irregular and illegal identities and called for investigation of the N10billion released by the Ministry of Finance for the proposed NIPOST restructuring and recapitalisation .
The red chamber also seeks stiff punishments including jail terms for violators of its finance laws.
These were part of adoptions of recommendations made by its committee on Finance in the report on the 2024 – 2026 Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work ( MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The Senate in adopting the report presented by the Chairman of the committee , Senator Sani Musa , approved the N26.1trillion proposed as 2024 budget and other parameters as proposed by President Bola Tinubu.
It approved the new borrowings of N7.8trillion, pegs benchmark oil price for the 2024 at $73.96 and oil production volume per day at 1.78million barrels.
Other parameters approved are GDP growth rate of 3.76%, Inflation rate of 21.40% , suggested benchmark exchange rate at N700 to $1dollar and projected budget deficit of N9.04 trillion.
The report reads: “FGN recommended spending N26trillion with N16.9trillion as retained revenue.
“N9 trillion budget deficit (including GOEs) , N7.8trillion in new borrowings ( including borrowing from foreign and domestic sources).
“N1.3 trillion worth of statutory transfers, an estimated N8.2trillion in debt service , N234.6billion in the sinking fund , N1.27trillion in pension , gratuity and retiree benefits.
“Total recurrent (non – debt) of N10.2trillion and N4.49trillion as capital expenditure.”
