The Budget Office of the Federation has revealed that the Federal Government exceeded its approved 2024 borrowing programme by N4.79 trillion, after a sharp revenue shortfall forced it to raise more debt than initially planned.
This was revealed in the Fourth Quarter and Consolidated Budget Implementation Report for 2024 released by the Budget Office of the Federation, according to PUNCH.
The report showed that total new borrowings climbed to N12.62 trillion, far above the 7.83 trillion approved in the 2024 budget, representing an overrun of 61.2 per cent.
The higher borrowing requirement came as the Federal Government posted a N13.51 trillion fiscal deficit, exceeding the budgeted deficit of N9.18 trillion by N4.34 trillion, largely due to weaker-than-expected revenue performance.
According to the report, aggregate Federal Government revenue stood at N20.98 trillion, falling N4.90 trillion short of the approved target of N25.88 trillion.
By contrast, total expenditure remained broadly within budget at N34.49 trillion, only N561.29 billion, or 1.6 per cent, below the approved estimate of N35.06 trillion, indicating that the widening fiscal gap was driven primarily by revenue underperformance rather than spending overruns.
“The revenue and expenditure outturn of the Federal Government resulted in a fiscal deficit of ₦13.51tn in the 2024 fiscal year. This was ₦4.34tn (47.33 per cent) above the projected budget deficit estimate for the year,” the Budget Office stated.
The deficit also exceeded the N10.55 trillion recorded in 2023, underscoring mounting fiscal pressures on Africa’s largest economy.
A breakdown of the government’s financing profile showed that domestic borrowing remained on target at N6.06 trillion, while increased foreign loans and previously unbudgeted financing significantly expanded overall debt.
Foreign borrowing rose to N3.37 trillion, compared with the budgeted N1.77 trillion, an increase of N1.60 trillion.
In addition, the Federal Government received N3.19 trillion in budget support, despite making no provision for such financing in the 2024 Appropriation Act. The Budget Office classified the support as new borrowing but did not disclose its source.
Combined, domestic borrowing, foreign loans and budget support lifted total new borrowings to N12.62 trillion, exceeding the approved borrowing ceiling by N4.79 trillion.
The report further revealed that new borrowings financed approximately 36 per cent of the Federal Government’s total expenditure in 2024, highlighting Nigeria’s continued dependence on debt to fund public spending.
Apart from these borrowings, multilateral and bilateral project-tied loans amounted to N1.98 trillion, surpassing the budget estimate of N1.05 trillion by N929.45 billion.
Meanwhile, the government realised no proceeds from its planned privatisation programme, despite budgeting N298.49 billion from asset sales.
According to the Budget Office, the fiscal deficit was financed through N1.98 trillion in project-tied loans, N6.06 trillion in domestic borrowing, N3.37 trillion in foreign borrowing and N3.19 trillion in budget support.
The report attributed the weaker fiscal outcome primarily to underperforming oil revenues.
Although total government revenue rose by 68.11 per cent from N12.48 trillion in 2023 to N20.98 trillion in 2024, collections still fell 18.92 per cent below the annual budget target.
Meanwhile, gross oil revenue stood at N15.07 trillion, missing the budget estimate of N19.99 trillion bbyN4.93 trillion.
The Budget Office attributed the shortfall to lower crude oil prices and production levels.
Average international crude oil prices during the fourth quarter stood at $74.65 per barrel, below the budget benchmark of $77.96, while average crude oil production reached 1.54 million barrels per day, significantly below the budget assumption of 1.78 million barrels per day.
Despite the oil sector’s weakness, non-oil revenue outperformed expectations, rreaching N16.09 trillion, exceeding the annual target of N10.81 trillion by N5.29 trillion, or 48.91 per cent.
The stronger performance was driven by higher collections from Company Income Tax, Value Added Tax, Electronic Money Transfer Levy and Customs revenue, the report noted.
While expenditure remained largely within budget, debt servicing consumed a significantly larger share of public spending.
The report showed that total debt expenditure reached N12.36 trillion, exceeding the budgeted N8.27 trillion by 52.71 per cent.
“A total of ₦12.36tn was committed as total debt expenditure for the year, 52.71 per cent above the ₦8.27tn budgeted for the period,” the report stated.
Non-debt recurrent expenditure stood at N8.53 trillion, below the approved estimate of N11.27 trillion.
Although N5.81 trillion was released and cash-backed for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to execute capital projects, only N3.27 trillion had been utilised as of June 30, 2025, representing 81.91 per cent of the cash-backed releases.
The Budget Office also warned that Nigeria’s debt burden continued to rise.
Total public debt increased to N144.67 trillion by the end of December 2024, pushing the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to 61.22 per cent.
According to the report, the ratio now exceeds both Nigeria’s self-imposed debt sustainability threshold of 40 per cent and the 56 per cent international benchmark for comparable economies.
Despite the deteriorating fiscal position, the Budget Office expressed optimism that ongoing reforms, including stronger tax administration, improved non-oil revenue mobilisation, reviews of fiscal incentives, plugging revenue leakages and enhanced remittances from government-owned enterprises, would reduce dependence on borrowing over the medium term.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.