The House of Representatives Committee on Finance expressed the hope that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, will help put a stop to the payment of petrol subsidy by the government.
The Committee expressed this position on Thursday last week as it rounded up its hearing on the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) with Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
In a closing remark, Chairman of the Committee, James Faleke (APC, Lagos) decried various leakages, under-remittances and extra budgetary expenditure by MDAs thereby depleting savings for government and increasing fiscal deficit of the country.
A communiqué issued by the Committee at the end of the series of sessions stated as follows:
“The exercise which is geared towards plugging financial leakages and instilling fiscal discipline has been revealing and rewarding. Pending the final report of the Committee it is instructive and important to highlight the following critical findings with a view to keeping the public informed on developments relating to the management of the nation’s resources.
“The Committee urged on the urgent need for a meticulous budget process as it has been established that most agencies are in the habit of recycling projects without due consideration for need. This would constitute a significant savings for the Government and thereby reducing the projected fiscal deficit.
“To enhance the performance of the economy on the fiscal side, there is an urgent need to establish the country’s actual daily PMS consumption as data from the relevant stakeholders in the downstream sector was found to be conflicting. Also, noteworthy is the fact that the current PMS under recovery payments constitute a major drain on the country’s scarce resources. With the signing of the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act), it is expected that this would come to an end soon.
“Agencies have leveraged on their establishment Acts to spend their IGR thereby denying the Government the needed Revenue. The Committee established that some of these Acts are self-serving and against national interest. The need to expeditiously amend such Act cannot therefore be overemphasized.
“The Committee is also worried over the agencies’ in-flagrant disregard for extant laws particularly the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). Federal revenue generating agencies have refused to remit revenues due to the Federal Government of Nigeria. The action, as it were, is putting a major strain on the resources which ordinarily should be available for Government to pursue its development objectives.
“Agencies of Government embark on extra-budgetary spending contrary to the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Some agencies are under-reporting the actual Revenue generated. Some agencies that are yet to appear before the Committee will be re-invited to appear on resumption of the House of Representatives, failing which, our recommendations may include the removal of their capital and overhead from the 2022 budget.”
Recall that the Committee had raised concerns over lack of accurate data on issues of petroleum and petrol products consumption in the country and even threatened sanctions on the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
SOURCE: orderpaper.ng