Nigeria: Lawmakers Against FG’s Borrowing to Finance 2022 Budget Deficit

The House of Representatives has expressed displeasure over the way some government agencies conceal their revenues, thereby denying the federal government the fund for budgeting.

The House criticised the way the country resorts to borrowing N5.62 trillion to finance the deficit in the 2022 budget, while these agencies starve the government of funds.

The Chairman, of the House Committee on Finance, James Faleke, made this known at the ongoing public hearing on 2022 to 2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) on Thursday in Abuja.

“We are not you happy the way Nigeria is borrowing N5.62 trillion and we have some fund somewhere staying fallow without being used.

“For God sake, let us build this country together for the sake of all of us,’’ he said.

Mr Faleke said the major problem facing the country was revenue generation, adding that the House of Representatives would be more interested in how much government agencies could save.

He said if the House discovered that any of the government agencies’ capital projects were unnecessary, they would be removed in a bid to get revenue for the country.

The committee also directed the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) to provide the turnover of the amount realised from all network operators from 2018 to 2020.

Mr Faleke said this would enable the committee to look at their records and be able to determine if the revenue proposal for 2022 to 2024 would be good for the country.

Others are Nigeria Metrology Agency, Nigeria Postal Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Nigeria Communication Satellite Ltd. among others.

Mr Emeka Iseogwu, the general manager, Finance, who represented the Director-General of NPA, said the agency was on course in terms of revenue generation.

He said that NPA was targeting N338 billion for revenue in 2022.

NAN

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