The Senate on Tuesday said it had discovered that some Federal ministries, departments and agencies still kept billions of unspent funds in illegal accounts.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Communications, Senator Ayogu Eze, alleged that MDAs had between N200bn and N300bn in such illegal accounts in the past four years.
Although Eze did not name the erring MDAs, he claimed they (MDAs) always introduced the funds into the system the following year.
The committee chairman added that since such funds were not usually captured in the budget, they ended up worsening inflation rate in the country.
He explained that the practice was partly responsible for the failure of the Senate to pass the 2008 budget before preceeding on the Eid-el-kabir, Christmas and New Year holidays.
Relevant fiscal regulations require that all unspent funds must be recalled and paid back into the account of the Federal Government at the end of a fiscal year.
Eze said, “As I am talking to you, hundreds of billions of naira that were not previously captured in the budget are still as of today coming to the attention of the National Assembly.
“This is in spite of the fact that we have rigorously insisted that the practice of the past where ministries and departments will go and keep money illegally and be earning interests will not be allowed.
“And we found out that inexplicit accounts in the hands of some unauthorised persons had over N200bn to N300bn; yet our people are crying that we have not made enough provisions for capital projects.
“We are fishing around and ferreting out all such accounts. One of them is holding over N100bn.We are asking the Ministry of Finance to do a more thorough job to fish out all the funds that are illegally being held by the MDAs.
“It is not just enough to issue a circular calling back unused funds. It is important that they move into the field to recover these monies, because they belong to Nigerians and we are going to capture it in the 2008 appropriation.”
The committee chairman added that the passage of the budget was being delayed because the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office of the Presidency presented relevant information to the National Assembly in bits.
Eze also said the budget was submitted late, while the materials, such as revenue profiles, were delayed.
He said it was clear that the relevant authorities did not do a thorough job on the budget before presenting it to the National Assembly.
Eze said, “This is a preparation that they ought to have made before presenting the budget, before rushing to read the budget speech to us.
“They ought to have done their homework and this has not been the case because we are finding out that enough effort has not been made; the assumptions were based on some people’s imaginations.”
He said if the Presidency desired that the budget be passed in good time, relevant tools and information should be promptly supplied.
The senator, however, assured Nigerians that the Senate was committed to passing the budget by January 15, 2008.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore, said the committee had been working round the clock to ensure that the report was ready in good time.
Omisore said some committees were yet to submit their reports on the budget of the ministries and parastatals under their supervision.
He, however, wants the Senate to give the committee two weeks after the New Year holiday to enable it complete its work on the budget.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, said the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, had not responded to some of the queries raised in the budget.
The Senate has, however, adjourned till January 8, 2008.
By John Alechenu and Oluwole Josiah, Abuja
The Punch
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
