ABUJA- The House of Representatives has rejected representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and comptroller general of Nigeria Customs Service, insisting they appear personally to defend their 2024 budget proposal.
Also, the representatives of the Federal Inland Revenue Service were rejected by the House Committee on Appropriation.
Abubakar Bitchi, the committee chairman, said on Friday in Abuja at the budget defence session that the heads of the agencies were duly invited for the interactive session.
Mr Bitchi said the revenue-generating agencies must generate money because, without money, there is no magic President Bola Tinubu will perform to ensure the full budget performance.
The lawmaker said, “The objective of this engagement is, among others, to provide highlights on some key issues about the preparation, enactment, and implementation of the 2024 budget.”
He said this includes strategies for addressing rising inflation, reducing the burden of Nigeria’s debt profile, sector budgetary allocations, and the dynamics of budget releases.
Others, according to him, are economic diversification strategies, revenue generation forecasts, and other useful information that will facilitate the enactment of the bill and effective implementation of the Appropriations Act 2024.
He said there were concerns about addressing the infrastructure gap, eliminating poverty, and achieving the eight-point Renewed Hope Agenda.
“While the revised MTEF (Medium Term Expenditure Framework) and FSP (Fiscal Strategy Paper) showed that revenue-generating efforts by the present administration are already yielding fruit, more needs to be done.
“This is to ensure that government-owned enterprises optimise their revenue-generating potential,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, said the interactive session represented a beacon of light to shed light on the budget.
“Mr President is ambitious, and he is very clear that Nigeria is not where it is; the revenue we collect is about 10 per cent, and the president has directed that we raise it to 18 per cent.
“We understand that the lawmakers are interested in how money is spent. You are also interested in how you can cooperate with the executive to ensure we take Nigeria to a greater height,’’ he said.
Mr Bagudu said the 2024 proposal had increased spending, which included infrastructure and education, among others, adding that the budget appropriation had included a proposal for $100 billion for the Sustainable Agriculture Fund.
According to him, the federal government also wants to ensure that the nation’s manufacturing sector will worry less about demand than production (NAN).
