The Senate has described the action of Minister for Finance, Kemi Adeosun in approving the budget of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) without recourse to the National Assembly as a flagrant contravention of the Act establishing the commission.
According to Senator Solomon Adeola (APC – Lagos West), the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, only the National Assembly was in the position to approve the commission’s budget.
Sen. Adeola, in a statement through his media aide, Chief Kayode Odunaro, reacted to a briefing by the minister at the Federal Executive Council meeting, where she said, among other disclosures, that she had directed different agencies including the NCC to submit their budgets to her and other supervising ministers for approval.
The statement read: “I am surprised that the minister was quoted as including NCC among other agencies it would require to submit budgets for her and other supervising ministers to approve.
“As well intentioned as this may seem in the effort to generate revenue and block leakages, it is a flagrant contravention of the NCC Act as well as usurping the power of the National Assembly to approve the budget of NCC.”