MTEF: Senate threatens to sanction CBN, NPA, FIRS, others

The Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National
Planning on Wednesday threatened to sanction heads
of some revenue generating agencies of the Federal
Government if they fail to appear before it on
Thursday (today ) .
The heads of the affected agencies had been invited to
appear before the panel to defend their positions as
contained in the 2021 – 2023 Medium Term Expenditure
Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper . chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance , Senator
Solomon Adeola , delivered the threat at the opening
session of a five – day public hearing on the 2021 – 2023
MTEF / FSP .
He said some heads of the agencies did not appear at
all while some sent their subordinates who could not
speak on the revenue figures of their agencies .
Among the agencies specifically mentioned by the
Senate whose heads must appear on Thursday ( today )
are the Federal Inland Revenue Service , the Central
Bank of Nigeria , Nigerian Ports Authority , Nigeria
Communications Commission , Nigeria Shippers
Council, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and
Safety Agency, and the Nigeria Natural Liquefied Gas .
The 2021 – 2023 MTEF / FSP was sent to the Senate on
July 20 for consideration by the President , Major
General Mohammadu Buhari (retd . ), preparatory to the
presentation of the 2021 Appropriation Bill .
Adeola explained that in line with the desire to achieve
early passage of the budget to be in tandem with the
January- December budget cycle , the Senate referred
the MTEF / FSP to the joint committee for consideration
even while members were on recess .
He said , “ Any head of agencies that refused 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 budgeted among other
penalties .
“ We will be considering the revenue target of 50
revenue generating agencies of the Federal
Government which have been categorised in to three .
“ We have agencies that are fully funded from the
federal budget , those that are partially funded from the
budget and those that are financially independent of
the budget of the Federal Republic of Nigeria .