Former Minister and Bring Back Our Girls campaigner, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, on Wednesday backed calls by the National Assembly that Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government should submit their annual budget for scrutiny, in line with extant laws of the land.
While urging the MDAs, about 38 of them, including state-owned behemoth- the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to present their budgets, Ezekwesili however warned against any attempt by the National Assembly “to tie these agencies up in the knot.”
In a series of tweets, Ezekwesili, who was reacting to complaints by Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah that the MDAs were taking the Senate for granted by not presenting their annual budgets, warned: “When agencies like NNPC, CBN treat the National Assembly, the Senate and House of Representatives with contempt, (by) refusing to be scrutinized, we must say no.”
According to her, “majority of Parastatals fail to remit their surplus income to the Ministry of Finance,”a situation the National Assembly must bring to an end, since the Parastatals are funded from the public purse.
The problem, he noted, also is that the establishments have poor corporate governance structures, stressing however that if the legislators had “not compromised their oversight responsibility the stench of “oil subsidy” (which involved the NNPC and CBN) would never have happened” in the first place.
She therefore enjoined the legislators to begin to confront their own credibility deficit, stressing that: “We must today, ASK ALL AGENCIES to SUBMIT #Budget17.
“So, again I join the National Assembly, Senate and House of Representatives to say to ALL defaulting Parastatals like the NNPC: #WhereIsYourBudget2017?”
Addressing his colleagues on Tuesday, Na’Allah stressed: “I deliberately decided that I will bring it on the flow, so that Senators will understand the implications. In our commitment to assist this government to fight corruption, we must stand on our feet that every spirit of our law must be obeyed by those holding public offices. I think that if you permit me, I will like to come tomorrow by way of motion, so it can be debated on the floor of the Senate.” Read: https://investdata.com.ng/2017/05/2017-appropriation-senate-blasts-mdas-non-submission-budgets/
The Senate promised to continue discussion on the matter at plenary today.
Apart from the NNPC and CBN, other MDAs accused of shielding their annual spending plans from scrutiny include: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC); Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); Nigeria Customs Service (NCS); Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); National Communications Commission (NCC); and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
Others are:

1. National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASEI)
2. Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA)
3. Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC)
4. National Maritime Authority (NMA)
5. Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC),
6. National Sugar Development Council (NSDC)
7. Nigerian Postal Service (NPS)
8. Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC)
9. National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
10. National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
11. National Insurance Commission (NAICOM)
12. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
13. Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC)
14. Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
15. Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)
16. Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS)
17. Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)
18. Radio Nigeria
19. Federal Housing Authority (FHA)
20. Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)
21. National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC)
22. Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA)
23. National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB)
24. Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria
25. National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA)
26. Industrial Training Fund (ITF)
27. Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON)
28. Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGZFA)