Senate spoiling for war heads of CBN, FIRS, customs, others over refusal to appear before it
Aderemi Ojekunle is a Businessamlive Reporter.
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Heads of federal revenue generating agencies who ignore the invitation of the senate to explain their operations before the senate will be sanctioned going forward.
The threat was issued by the senate joint committee on finance and national planning on Wednesday against the backdrop of the refusal of some revenue agencies’ heads to appear before it last week.
The committee said revenue-generating agencies heads who failed to appear before it today would be sanctioned.
The heads of the affected agencies had been invited to appear before the panel to defend their positions as contained in the 2021-2023 medium-term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper.
Senator Solomon Adeola, the chairman of the Senate committee on finance, delivered the threat at the opening session of a five-day public hearing on the 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP.
He said some heads of the agencies did not appear at all while some sent their subordinates who could not speak on the revenue figures of their agencies.
Among the agencies specifically mentioned by the Senate whose heads must appear on Thursday (today) are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Communications Commission, Nigeria Shippers Council, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, and the Nigeria Natural Liquefied Gas.
The 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP was sent to the Senate on July 20 for consideration by President Mohammadu Buhari, preparatory to the presentation of the 2021 Appropriation Bill.
Adeola explained that in line with the desire to achieve early passage of the budget to be in tandem with the January-December budget cycle, the Senate referred the MTEF/FSP to the joint committee for consideration even while members were on recess.