The Senate yesterday urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack any head of government agency that fails to honour the summons of National Assembly committees.
The House of Representatives also urged the President to order all agencies to appear before relevant standing committees to defend their submissions on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
Senate President Godswill Akpabio spoke at the opening of a public hearing on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) yesterday in Abuja.
In the MTEF/FSP, the Federal Government pegged the price of crude oil at $73.96; the exchange rate at N700/$; oil production at 1.78 million barrels per day; debt service of N8.25 trillion; inflation at 21 per cent and GDP growth at 3.76 per cent.
At the House of Representatives, the Chairman of its Committee on Finance, James Abiodun Faleke, was unhappy that many government agencies summoned to appear before the committee over their finances did not turn up.
The aggregate expenditure for the 2024 budget, as contained in the MTEF/FSP, is estimated at N26.01 trillion, comprising statutory transfers of N1.3 trillion, non-debt recurrent expenditure of N10.26trillion, debt service estimated at N8.25 trillion, as well as N7.78 trillion for personnel and pension cost.
The public hearing was organised by the Senate Joint Committees on Finance; Appropriations; National Planning and Economic Affairs; and Local and Foreign Debt.
The session was meant to assess the fiscal document with the chief executives of government-owned agencies with a view to increasing the national revenue base.
The approved MTEF/FSP will set out the parameters upon which next year’s budget will be based.
Akpabio said the interactive session on the MTEF/FSP was an important session, adding that any serious presidential appointee that wanted President Tinubu to succeed must honour summons.
The Senate President said due to the importance he attached to the session, he did not attend yesterday’s grand rally of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Owerri, the Imo State, ahead of Saturday’s governorship poll.
He said any invited head of agency who fails to appear at the National Assembly to discuss the economic blueprint of the Federal Government is not fit to run such agency and should be sacked.
Akpabio said,
“Any serious appointee or any head of any agency that is interested in the success of President Bola Tinubu’s administration ought to be here.
“The chairman should give me the list of all the heads of agencies that you invited but have failed to show up for this session.
“This is the beginning of their failure in their various offices. Therefore, I am happy to see the chairman of FIRS (Federal Inland Revenue Service); he is here. I have also seen the DG of NIMASA (Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency) and others.
“Any head of agency that sends representation here is not a serious person. Therefore, the President must take a second look at such a person’s appointment. It is not a threat but the truth.
“I shelved even my appointment to appear in Owerri today for the final rally of my party and all other schedules that I have to make sure that I appear so that we can strategise on how we can succeed.”
He added that borrowings for Nigeria cannot be totally avoided though the current trend cannot be sustained.
“The very reason why at this session, strategies must be mapped out by the committees and relevant agencies on more revenue generation for government,” Akpabio said.
The Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East), adjourned till Monday to give invited agencies more time to forward necessary documents to the committee.
Faleke spoke after the committee had issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Director General of Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mr. Joseph Ari, to appear or be removed from office.
He said,
“The House at plenary referred MTEF to us. In compliance with the laws, we wrote letters to all the agencies to appear before us to defend their submissions.
“Unfortunately, it is clear that these agencies are ignoring or have ignored our invitations. The House must pass this MTEF before the budget is laid. So, we want to make it clear that any delay arising for the passage of MTEF is surely not the fault of the National Assembly.
“And so, we appeal to the President to direct all his ministers and agencies to appear before us unfailingly.”
