Senate gives NAFDAC, Ogun-Osun River Basin deadline to reconcile accounts

…warns of budget sanctions

The Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday directed the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) to reconcile discrepancies in revenue deductions involving NAFDAC.

It also gave the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA) 14 days to regularise its financial records or risk sanctions, including the suspension of budget releases.

The directives were issued during the committee’s ongoing investigation into the remittance of internally generated revenue (IGR) and operating surplus by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) for the 2023 to 2025 financial years.

Sani Musa, chairman of the committee, said the reconciliation became necessary after inconsistencies emerged between figures presented by NAFDAC and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission regarding deductions from the agency’s operating surplus.

NAFDAC told lawmakers that it generated N18.73 billion in 2023, N29.85 billion in 2024, and N39.6 billion in 2025, indicating a steady rise in its internally generated revenue.

Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of NAFDAC, said the agency had remitted about N3.9 billion as an operating surplus between 2007 and 2023.

However, she explained that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy introduced in January 2024 had significantly affected its finances.

She said the zero-balance TSA arrangement allowed deductions to be made from NAFDAC’s earnings before the agency could access the funds, making it difficult to meet some operational obligations.

According to Adeyeye, approximately N21 billion deducted directly from payments made by clients for regulatory services had not been fully refunded, adding that only N13 billion had been returned.

She further disclosed that President Bola Tinubu approved the refund in August 2025 and also approved the removal of NAFDAC from the list of revenue-generating agencies, although both approvals were yet to be fully implemented.

Responding, Musa asked the agency to submit the presidential approval to the committee to enable it to take the necessary legislative action.

The committee subsequently directed the Office of the Accountant-General to designate a senior official to work with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and NAFDAC to reconcile the agency’s accounts.

Musa also commended NAFDAC for improving its revenue generation despite operational constraints, stressing that agencies should promptly receive funds due to them after meeting statutory remittance obligations.

During the session, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan urged NAFDAC to strengthen research into alternative medicine, noting Nigeria’s abundance of medicinal plants.

In response, Adeyeye said the agency already had a regulatory framework for traditional medicines but lacked adequate funding to conduct the clinical trials required for international recognition. She also dismissed claims that medicines available in Nigeria were only 30 per cent effective, insisting that mandatory bioequivalence studies had enhanced quality assurance.

The committee also scrutinised the financial records of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority after the Fiscal Responsibility Commission reported that the agency had failed to submit audited financial statements since 2022 and still had unresolved financial liabilities.

Ayo Oyano, acting managing director of the authority, told lawmakers that OORBDA generated N72.755 million in 2023 and remitted N18.188 million, representing 25 per cent of the revenue.

However, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission maintained that, as a fully funded federal agency, OORBDA was legally required to remit 100 per cent of its internally generated revenue into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The commission also informed the committee that the authority had not submitted audited financial statements for 2023, 2024 and 2025 and still had an outstanding liability of N71.5 million from 2022.

Musa reminded the agency that its personnel, overhead and capital costs were already financed through annual appropriations approved by the National Assembly, leaving it with no legal basis to retain any internally generated revenue.

Although Oyano argued that part of the revenue had been used to maintain tractors and other farming equipment, the committee rejected the explanation, insisting that all revenues collected by fully funded agencies must first be paid into the Treasury Single Account before being transferred to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Aliyu Wadada supported the committee’s position, stressing that no government agency was permitted to spend internally generated revenue without lawful appropriation.

The committee directed OORBDA to reconcile its accounts with the Office of the Accountant-General and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission within 14 days.

Warning of possible consequences, Musa said failure to comply would attract legislative sanctions, including the suspension of the agency’s budget releases.

He said the investigation was intended to strengthen accountability, transparency and compliance with statutory revenue remittance requirements, warning that the Senate would not hesitate to invoke its constitutional powers against any agency that ignored its invitations or failed to properly account for public funds.