The House of Representatives has recommended the delisting of the National Examinations Council, the University of Ibadan, and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment from the 2025 budget.
Additionally, 21 ministries, departments, and agencies are impacted due to their alleged repeated failure to account for internally generated revenue and prior budgetary allocations.
The resolution was reached during an extraordinary sitting of the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee in Abuja.
According to the chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam, the decision followed the persistent non-compliance of the MDAs with the committee’s summons, aimed at scrutinising their financial operations.
Among the agencies recommended for delisting are hospitals, universities and development agencies.
Mr Salam said that the delisting recommendation was sequel to multiple invitations sent to the agencies over the past several months.
He added that the agencies failed to neither attend the scheduled hearings nor provide the necessary documentation requested by the committee.
Other affected MDAs included the Federal Medical Centre, Bida; the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment; Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria; and the Nigeria Police Force.
Also involved were the Department of Information and Communication Technology, Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba; Federal College of Education, Yola; and Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, among others.
Mr Salam said, “The financial regulation empowers the National Assembly to exclude any ministry, department or agency (MDA) that fails to account for their previous appropriations. As such, the listed MDAs should be excluded from the 2025 budget until they appear before this constitutional committee.”
The committee unanimously recommended that the 24 MDAs should be excluded from the 2025 budget until they appear and provide the necessary clarifications.
(NAN)
