Reps kick as CBN, AMCON shun budget defence

The house of representatives has mandated its principal officers to meet with the committee of finance and currency over the failure of some ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to appear for the 2022 budget defence.

Ahmed Wase, deputy speaker of the house, made the ruling during the plenary session on Wednesday following a motion of personal explanation by Fatau Mohammed, All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Katsina state.

While moving his motion, Mohammed said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) did not appear before the house committee.

Citing orders of the house standing orders, the lawmaker said it is illegal for the agencies not to appear and defend their budget.

Order 20, rule 18 (1) stipulates that “There shall be a Committee to be known as Committee on Banking and Currency consisting of not more than 40 members constituted at the commencement of the life of the House” and the committee’s jurisdiction shall cover the oversight of CBN and AMCON.

According to the lawmaker, the rule empowers the committee to perform oversight functions on the agencies.

“It will interest the house to know that none of the above agencies have had oversight in the past two years, and they have failed to make their 2022 budget available to the committee. How long shall we allow these illegalities to continue? he said.

Contributing to the motion, Toby Okechukwu, deputy minority leader of the house, said it is a breach of the law for the agencies not to appear before the lawmakers.

“This is a breach of the law of which this house should make a finding and place it properly the culpability of these agencies. It would be proper for this to come in a way of a motion for an investigation,” he said.

Ruling on the matter, Wase said that the leadership of the green chamber would interface with the committee to resolve the issue.