The House of Representatives on Thursday in Abuja warned government agencies against budget recycling.
Rep James Faleke, Chairman, House Committee on Finance, gave the warning at the end of the first session of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper interactive session with government agencies.
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The committee formed the urgent need for a meticulous budget process as it has been established that most agencies were in the habit of recycling projects without due consideration for need.
He said that it would constitute a significant saving for the government and thereby reducing the projected fiscal deficit.
According to him, to enhance the performance of the economy on the fiscal side, there is an urgent need to establish the country’s actual daily Premium Motor Spirit consumption
He said that data from the relevant stakeholders in the downstream sector were found to be conflicting.
” Also, noteworthy is the fact that the current PMS under-recovery payments constitute a major drain on the country’s scarce resources.
He said that with the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act, it was expected that this would come to an end soon.
He said agencies had leveraged on their establishment Acts to spend their Internally Generated Revenue thereby denying the government the needed revenue.
” The Committee established that some of these Acts are self-serving and against National interest, hence, the need to expeditiously amend such Act cannot, therefore, be overemphasized.
“The Committee is also worried over the agencies in-flagrant disregard for extant laws, particularly the constitution,” he said.
He added that Federal Revenue generating agencies had refused to remit revenues due to the Federal Government.
The committee noted that the action as it were, was putting a major strain on the resources which ordinarily should be available for the government to pursue its development objectives.
“Agencies of Government embark on extra-budgetary spending contrary to the Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
” Some agencies are under-reporting the actual revenue generated, while those that are yet to appear before the committee will be re-invited to appear on resumption of the House of Representatives.
He said failure to appear would lead to the removal of their capital and overhead from the 2022 budget.