Reps to withhold sovereign wealth fund in 2022 budget over failure to appear for defence

The House of Representatives on Tuesday threatened to withhold budgetary allocation to the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund from Federation Account for the 2022 fiscal year.

Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon James Faleke (APC-Lagos) stated this at the opening session of budget defence of the ministry of finance and its agency.

He noted that the action became necessary as the agency had failed to present its budget to the parliament for consideration since it was created.

Hon Faleke said that the committee had spoken to the Managing Director of NSIA and the Ministry of Finance about the illegality of the agency not submitting their budget to the National Assembly for approval but that they said that they were relying on its law which stated that its board have the power to approve its budget.

According to him, “we have spoken to the MD. We have advised him that it is purely against the constitution. We have spoken to the minister of finance that it is purely against the constitution and the minister of finance is in support of that and that the agency must present its budget for defence and approval. Unfortunately, the agency is relying on its law which says that its board shall approve its budget.

“I’ve told the agency that the law whether made in error or even rightly is not superior to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We are using this opportunity to inform that agency that if they fail to present their budget before the parliament this time around, there will be no appropriation for that agency this year 2022. We will make it clear and we are making it very clear now. The Accountant General of the Federation is here. We’ll write to you not disburse any money to the agency.”

Consequently, Hon Faleke ruled that there would be no disbursement of funds from any of the federation account to the agency if it fails to present its budget for scrutiny and appropriation.

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