Senate gives Acting President Osinbajo two weeks ultimatum. The Nigerian Senate has asked the federal government to present the budgets of corporations, agencies and parastatals to the legislature withing two weeks. The Nigerian lawmakers issued the ultimatum at the plenary on Wednesday May 17.
The Senate, following a motion by the Deputy Leader, Bala Na’Allah on Wednesday, also resolved that the concerned agencies should stop further spending pending compliance. Consequently, the Senate barred the affected corporations and parastatals from capital expenditure until their budgets had been passed by the legislature.
The lawmakers decried non-compliance with Section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act by government agencies. The Senate also issued a two-week ultimatum to acting President Yemi Osinbajo to ensure submission of the budgets of 31 public establishments, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Ports Authority, to the National Assembly in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Many Senators, including Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu; Solomon Adeola, APC-Lagos; George Sekibo, PDP-Rivers; James Manager, PDP-Delta; Barnabas Gemade, APC-Benue, took swipe on the agencies for disregarding the law and spending “trillions”, in sum, without appropriation.
These agencies, which include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), have continued to make huge extra-budgetary expenditure in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility (FRA) Act 2007. This was disclosed by the Senate yesterday during a legislative session.
Source: Naij
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