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| Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo |
The Senate on Wednesday gave a two-week ultimatum to Acting
President Yemi Osinbajo to submit the 2017 budgets of Federal Government
agencies, corporations and parastatals.
The lawmakers issued the ultimatum at a plenary following a
motion by the Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, on the alleged
non-compliance with Section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act by some
government agencies.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs,
Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, had on Tuesday said of the 38 affected
organisations, only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigeria
Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bureau of Public Enterprises and the National
Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure had submitted their budgets.
In the motion titled: ‘Non-Submission of 2017 Budget by
Public Corporations in Violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act,’ N’Allah
said the failure to submit the proposals by the affected corporations to the
National Assembly was becoming worrisome.
He stated, “The Senate observes that non-compliance with the
provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act constitutes an abuse of power and
economic sabotage aimed at frustrating the current economic measures being
taken by the present administration to address the economic recession.”
The lawmakers unanimously granted the prayer of the motion
to “urge the President to, as a matter of urgency, submit the budgets of
parastatals and agencies to the National Assembly in accordance with the
provision of Section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act not later than two
weeks.”
Seconding the motion, the Deputy President of the Senate,
Ike Ekweremadu, pointed out that the Constitution was supreme and its
provisions were a binding force on all authorities and persons in the country.
Citing Section 80(3) of the Constitution, Ekweremadu urged
the Senate to bar errant agencies and corporations from capital expenditure
until their budgets had been passed by the legislature.
“I recall that in 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari sent to
this National Assembly the Appropriation Act for that year together with those
estimates. While in 2017, the ministers find it impossible to accompany the
same Appropriation Bill 2017 with those estimates of the agencies under them.
We cannot be going back and forth. I believe that this is the time for us to
insist, under Section 88 that gives us power of oversight, that this has to be
done.”
Also, Senator George Sekibo cited Section 5(1) (b) of the
Constitution that the executive was meant to maintain and enforce laws.
He stated, “And if the law says at certain months before
January, the budget of a corporation should be presented to the National
Assembly and year in and year out, we keep on crying for the same thing, what
do we do?
In his submission, Senator Olamilekan Adeola said the total
sum of the budgets of Federal Government parastatals was bigger than the
N7.441tn general budget of the government.
“What we are talking about here today is in excess of N10tn
in the hands of the parastatals of the Federal Government. It is saddening to
note that in the same way and the same tradition, these parastatals are trying
to ensure that every year they continue to do the same thing over their
budgets,” he said.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who presided
over the plenary, described the issue as a corruption matter, stating that the
trend must stop.
He said, “Truly, this motion is at the heart of this fight
against corruption and I cannot see how we can continue in a society where we
are fighting corruption, where people will be spending money without approval
and without appropriation. It must stop, it will stop and it is going to stop
from now.
“Clearly, we have made our position that based on this
amendment, that these agencies must get their budgets to us in two weeks.
Committee chairmen, I want to appeal that once we get the budgets, on our own
part as well, let us ensure that we treat them publicly, very diligently and
try and turn them around as quickly as possible.”
The corporations, agencies and corporations with independent
budgets are the BPE, NASENI, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian
Shippers’ Council, National Maritime Authority, Raw Materials Research and
Development Council, National Sugar Development Council, Nigerian Postal
Service, Nigerian Ports Authority and the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria.
Other are the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian
Tourism Development Corporation, National Communications Commission, National
Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, Nigeria Customs Service
and the National Broadcasting Commission.
Also on the list are the National Insurance Commission, News
Agency of Nigeria, Nigerian Copyrights Commission, Nigerian Deposit Insurance
Corporation, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Inland Revenue Service,
Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Radio
Nigeria, Federal Housing Authority, Nigerian Television Authority, National
Automotive Design and Development Council, and the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory
Authority.
The National Business and Technical Examination Board,
Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, National Environmental Standards and
Regulations Enforcement Agency, Industrial Training Fund, Corporate Affairs
Commission, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, as well as the Oil and Gas Free
Zone Authority are also to submit their budgets to the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Misuse,
Non-remittance Internally Generated Revenue and Fraudulent Acts by Government
Agencies, Adeola, has accused most university administrators in the country of
“cooking up figures in their yearly accounts as a way of evading payment of
operating surpluses.”
PUNCH
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