The Senate,on Wednesday, threatened some revenue generating agencies of the federal government with zero budgetary allocation if they fail to appear before its Joint Committees on Finance and National Planning to defend their positions as contained in the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, MTEF/FSP.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West) gave the threat at the opening of a five-day public hearing on 2021-2023 MTEF and FSP documents.
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“Any head of agency that refuses 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 budget among other penalties” the lawmaker said.
The agencies scheduled to appear before the panel today included: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Deposite Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
The committee also said it would carried out a thorough investigation on the contract signed by the Ministry of Interior with Continental Transfert Technique Limited (CONTEC) in 2007 on residence permit for expatriates.
The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mohammed Babandede had, during presentation at the session, said CONTEC, through the contract agreement, cornered a whopping N15 billion out of N20 billion realised in 2018 and N23 billion out of N40 billion realised in 2019.
He, however, said the Ministry of Justice was already looking at the modalities to pull out of the contract agreement.
The company had increased the residence permit fee from $1,000 to $2,000.
Babandede also said the NIS was discussing with the Ministry of Justice for necessary advice on the legal implications of the upward review.
Adeola stressed the need for a more elaborate investigation on the issue with a view to tackling it.
