The Senate has barred 38 Federal Government agencies from capital expenditure until their budgets had been passed by the legislature.
In lieu of this directives, the agencies can no longer receive monies from the Federal government for payment of salaries, all overheads and capital projects.
Going forward, the Senate has ordered President Muhammadu Buhari to within the next two weeks, submit to the parliament the details of the budget of the affected agencies.
The affected agencies are Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASEI), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), National Maritime Authority (NMA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Nigerian Postal Service (NPS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), National Communications Commission (NCC), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
Others are National Insurance Commission (NIC), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), , Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Federal Mortgage Bank (FMB), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), as well as Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGZFA).
The decision of the Senate was a fallout of a motion titled “Non Submission of 2017 Budget by Public Corporation in violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act sponsored by the Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah.
The senate also indicted the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari for the infractions as he was said to be the one who held on to the budget details of some agencies, refusing to release it to the president for presentation to the parliament by the president when he laid the budget last year.
