Reps to compel all MDAs to submit statutory reports, to impose sanctions against erring MDAs

Henceforth all Federal Government owned Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as Bodies and Corporations, are to submit their reports to the Speaker of the House of Representatives as stipulated by the state within three months of the close of the reporting period.

The recently reviewed Standing Order seen by Tribune Online, however, provides that, “unless reasons for delay are given to the House in writing within 14 days of the expiration of the period required, such violation shall attract such sanctions as provided in the Legislative House (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017.”

The new House of Representatives’ Standing Order is to be unveiled on resumption from the two months annual recess.

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The proposed clause was in consonance with Section 21 (1, 2 and 3) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 which provides that, “the Government Corporations and agencies and government-owned companies listed in the Schedule to this Act (in this Act referred of as ‘the Corporations’) shall, not later than 6 months from the commencement of this Act and every three financial years thereafter and not later than the end of the second quarter of every year, cause to be prepared and submitted to the Minister their Schedule estimates of revenue and expenditure for the next three financial years.”

The Act further stated that: “Each of the bodies referred to in subsection (1) of this section shall submit to the Minister not later than the end of August in each financial year: (a) An annual budget derived from the estimates submitted in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section; and (b) Projected operating surplus which shall be prepared in line with acceptable accounting practices. The Minister shall cause the estimates submitted in pursuance of subsection (2) of this section to be attached as part of the Appropriation Bill to be submitted to the National Assembly.”

According to the legislative archive, in 2017 the underlisted agencies erred: 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), Radio Nigeria, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA); Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), 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); National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Federal Mortgage Bank, 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).