Nigeria’s Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning on Wednesday threatened to sanction heads of some revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government if they fail to appear before it on Thursday (today).
Senator Solomon Adeola, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, gave the warning at the opening session of a five-day public hearing on the 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP.
The heads of the affected agencies had been invited to appear before the panel to defend their positions as contained in the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
Adeola announced that some heads of the agencies failed to appear at all before the committee, while some sent their subordinates, but noted that the representatives could not defend the revenue figures of their agencies.
The agencies whose heads must be present today (Thursday) include the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Communications Commission, Nigeria Shippers Council, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, and the Nigeria Natural Liquefied Gas.
President Mohammadu Buhari sent the 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP sent to the Senate a month ago for consideration, as part of preparations for the presentation of the 2021 National Budget.
Adeola explained the urgency in working on the agencies’ revenue figures derived from the determination of the Senate to ensure that the Budget preparation is completed in good time to enable the president present to meet the January-December cycle.
“Any head of agencies that refused to appear before the committee to defend figures it submitted as presented by the President to the senate risks a zero allocation in the incoming budgeted among other penalties.
“We will be considering the revenue target of 50 revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government which have been categorized into three.
“We have agencies that are fully funded from the federal budget, those that are partially funded from the budget and those that are financially independent of the budget of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We will also be looking at other sources of revenue which includes revenue accruing from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas and all other agencies of the government that make a contribution to the coffers of the government through biddings from dividends from partially owned government agencies.
“We will not accept appearance by proxy; only the head of the agency and the chief executive of these agencies must appear.”
