Senate Threatens 100 Agencies With Zero Budget Allocations

The Nigerian senate has threatened 100 Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies
of the government of zero budgetary provisions until all queries raised against them by the Auditor General of the Federation are answered, before the Senate Committee On Public Accounts.

This followed a Point Of Order, raised by the Chairman of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, calling the attention of his colleagues to the abysmal disregard of summons by Heads of MDAs, to answer queries raised against them by the Auditor General for the Federation.

The Senator appealed to his colleagues to invoke the sections of the constitution to mandate the affected agencies to appear or use a warrant of arrest to mandate them to appear.

He lamented that the agencies have consistently failed to respect the senate,
despite Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution, which give power to the legislature to summon agencies.

Some of the MDAs indicted include the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Ministries of Interior, Transportation, Mines and steel Development, Information, Communication, Petroleum, Defence, Police Affairs, Sports, Works and Housing, and Women Affairs.

Others are the State House, Presidential Fleet, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Independent National Electoral Commission, North East Development Commission, Nigerian Intelligence Agency and the Nigerian Air Force, among others.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, after reading the names of the affected agencies, ordered that they should appear before the committee within one week, or risk zero budget allocation in 2023.