Federal ministries, departments and Agencies and MDAs, have one week to appear in the Senate and give account of their Service Wide Vote allocations from 2017 to 2021, otherwise they will not get allocations for 2023. The Senate committee on public accounts chairman, Senate Matthew Urhoghide representing Edo South, raised a point of order, after about 100 Federal ministries and agencies refused to appear before the committee to explain how money was spent. “The agencies must in person defend what they have spent against the backdrop that they appear before the Senate for budget defence,” said the Senate President Ahmad Lawan “The National Assembly appropriates the money; they must honour invitations of the Senate when called for explanations. Any public officer who accepted to serve and spend any public funds appropriated must be here and anyone who refuses to do that should quit. “In the next one week, if the name of an agency is here, it should be invited and refusal to come, nothing should be given to the MDA in the 2023 budget.”
Some of the agencies affected include the State House, Presidential Fleet, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Nigerian Army, Navy, Airforce, Police, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Ministry of Interior, Budget Office of the Federation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, NBET, Ministry of Defence, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and many others.
