Senate Orders CBN, NNPC, 36 Others to Submit 2017 Budget Proposals

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Nigerian Senate has told the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and 36 other statutory agencies of the Federal Government yet to submit their 2017 budget proposals to do so for approval.

At the plenary on Tuesday, the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly expressed worry over the failure of these agencies to do the needful after the lawmakers, for the first time, publicly published their budget after public outcry.

The Senate alleged that the 38 agencies have continued to make huge extra-budgetary expenditure in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility (FRA) Act 2007, and in breach of Section 21 of the law, which makes it mandatory for all departments and agencies of the government to submit their expenditure plans to the National Assembly for approval.

The lawmakers said it was becoming a normal thing for some officials of government to frustrate the anti-corruption fight of President Muhammadu Buhari.

They said these agencies should as a matter of urgency submit their 2017 budget proposals for approval as required by law.

Apart from the CBN and the NNPC, other agencies listed include the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), National Maritime Authority (NMA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASEI) and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

Also on the list are National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Nigerian Postal Service (NPS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), National Communications Commission (NCC), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Others are the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) as well as the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGZFA).

Similarly, the 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) and National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) were also alleged not to have submitted their proposals.

But some of the agencies have refuted the claims by the Senate, including the NNPC.