Senate gives Presidency two weeks to submit budgets of 38 agencies

The Senate has given President Muhammadu Buhari two weeks ultimatum to submit the budgets of 38 public corporations to the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of Section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The budgets of the agencies are estimated at over N10 trillion.

It also directed the agencies to stop further capital expenditure on 2017 estimates until they comply with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The upper legislative chamber wondered why the agencies could not submit their budgets alongside the 2017 estimates, submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 14, 2016.

Although the agencies had allocations in the N7.441trillion national budget passed last week by the National Assembly, Section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 stipulates that they attach separate budgetary proposals to the national budget for scrutiny on or before the end of August for National Assembly’s approval.

Agencies affected include: the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASEI), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), National Maritime Authority (NMA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Nigerian Postal Service (NPS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), National Communications Commission (NCC), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Others are National Insurance Commission (NIC), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Radio Nigeria, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Federal Mortgage Bank, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), as well as Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGZFA).

Details later….

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja