The Presidency has directed all agencies, corporations and government owned companies which had not submitted details of their budgets to the National Assembly for consideration and passage to do so without further delay.
The directive is contained in a memo dated March 19 and signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha.
“It has come to the attention of Government that a number of Agencies, Corporations and Government owned Companies have not fully complied with the provisions of Section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007.
“Agencies are reminded that the FRA 2007 provides that consequent upon laying of summary of budget estimates of Agencies listed in the schedule to the FRA alongside the National Budget by Mr. President, it is required that details of such budgets are made available to the National Assembly for consideration and passage. This position was reiterated in the attached publication in the Nation Newspaper of Wednesday, February 7, 2018, by the Senior Special Assistant to the President (SSAP) on National Assembly Matters (Senate),” the memo reads in part.
The SGF stated further that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed as follows:
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“(i) That Agencies, Corporations and Government owned Companies in the schedule to the FRA 2007 should comply with the provisions of the law;
“(ii) All submissions (109 copies to the Senate and 360 copies to the House) should be made available to the appropriate Committees of the National Assembly. Copies should also be made available to the SSAP on National Assembly Matters (Senate and House respectively), not later than Friday, 23rd March, 2018; and
“(iii) All Agencies, Corporations and Government Owned Companies should honour invitations to defend their estimates timeously.”
It would be recalled that the leadership of the National Assembly met with President Muhammadu Buhari last week at the Presidential Villa and the passage of the 2018 budget was one of the issues discussed.
At the end of the meeting, the SGF hinted that the president directed all agencies that were yet to provide the details of their budgets to the National Assembly to do so without further delay.
