The House of Representatives has warned that no Ministry, Department or Agency will be allowed to disrupt the January-December Budget Cycle.
Members of the House Committee on Hydrological Services made the observation after the presentation of 2023 budget performance and 2024 budget defence by the National Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) by its Director General, Mr Clement Nze.
After the presentation, the lawmakers observed various infractions in the implementation of the 2023 Appropriation Act as they accused the agency of extra-budgetary spending.
They also queried the NIHSA management over the full payment to contactors for ongoing multibillion naira projects in the 2023 fiscal year.
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In his defence of the 2024 budget proposal, the NIHSA DG stated that the sum of N1.2bn was proposed for capital expenditure, personnel, N472.91m and N118.41m for overhead.
A member of the committee, Ahmed Jaha, observed that the delay in the presentation of the agency’s budget could not truncate the passage of the 2024 budget before the end of the year, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s request to the National Assembly to ensure that January to December budget cycle was maintained.
He stated, “Present it (your budget) on Monday so that the chairman will not be late in submitting his report to the Appropriation Committee. It was the President that asked us to complete the budget before December ending, so that we can maintain the budget cycle of January to December. Your agency alone cannot delay the directive or change the directive of Mr President.
“After going through your submission, honestly, this is not a budget document. You expect all of us to sit here and approve? You didn’t explain what constitutes your recurrent.
“There’s a need for this committee to step down this submission, if at the end of this exercise, your agency is not considered for the 2024 budget you will take us serious.”
However, after various observations by other members of the committee, the committee chairman, Pascal Agbodike, directed the NIHSA Director-General and his team to re-present the 2023 budget performance and the 2024 budget proposal on Monday for further scrutiny.
