From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Senate has approved N287 billion as the 2025 budget for the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF).
Of the sum, N15 billion is for the USPF, a special intervention fund under the NCC aimed at expanding access to communication services across underserved and unserved communities, while N272, 433 billion is for the NCC.
The passage followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Communications, chaired by Ikra Aliyu Bilbis during plenary yesterday. According to the report presented to the Senate, the USPF’s total projected revenue for the 2025 fiscal year stands at N15 billion, with the expenditure also at N15 billion.
A breakdown of the expenditure includes N10.9 billion for projects and programmes targeted at improving digital inclusion, N4.04 billion for recurrent expenses of the USPF secretariat and N53.96 million for capital expenditure.
“The Committee, having reviewed the budget documents and interacted with the Fund’s management, recommends that the Senate approves N15 billion for the operations of the USPF in the 2025 fiscal year,” Bilbis stated while presenting the report.
Speaking earlier in the year during the budget defence session, the NCC’s Director, Financial Services, Mr. Yakubu Gontor, who handled the technical aspect of the budget defence explained that out of the proposed N272.423 billion, N95.668 billion is for recurrent, N10.75 billion for capital and N40.93 billion for special projects. Motion for the adoption of the recommendation was subsequently moved and approved without objection.
