50% govt revenue spent illegally — Tambuwal

50% govt revenue spent illegally —tambuwal •NPA, NAMA generate, spend N210bn in one year.
SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal has disclosed that 50 per cent of Federal Government revenue is illegally spent outside the annual budget.

Tambuwal, who decried frequent revenue leakages from government coffers, said the unauthorised extra budgetary spending was responsible for the fiscal crisis into which the nation had been plunged.
The Speaker, who spoke at a meeting on revenue generation and remittances with revenue generating agencies and the House Committee on Finance in Abuja, noted that it was unlawful for any government agency to expend fund not appropriated by the National Assembly.


According to him, “if any arm of government finds any provision of the constitution inconvenient, it should propose amendments rather than continue to treat the laws and the constitution with contempt.
“A situation where actual government revenue and expenditure is unknown because revenue earning agencies of government spend the funds as they deem fit can no longer be tolerated. A situation where over 50 per cent of actual government revenue is spent outside the national annual budget has put Nigeria in a fiscal crisis,” he said

Tambuwal, who was represented at the meeting by his deputy, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, stressed that the National Assembly had the right to tinker with the budget estimates submitted to it by the executive arm of government by either reducing or increasing such estimates.
He explained that the invitation of the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) by National Assembly for budget defence was in the best interest of Nigerians, a reason he said estimates for some MDAs had been adjusted downwards.

“Sometimes we are misunderstood, when people say the National Assembly has tampered with the budget. You don’t make a proposal and expect we will just return it  to you. It is a proposal and we will work on it to be sure that what you are proposing is what our people need,” he said.

He charged the House Committee to use the window of the interface to address the challenge posed by the development and restore the country to fiscal health and financial prudence anchored on constitutionality and legality.
Meanwhile, only 45 out of about 60 revenue agencies invited by the committee were in attendance at the meeting.

Chairman of the committee, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin, alleged that two of the revenue agencies-the Nigerian Ports Authority and the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA)- jointly generated N210 billion in 2012 and spent all the money without remitting a dime to the Federation Accounts.
He queried why other high revenue generating agencies did not show up for the meeting despite the invitation extended to them.

A mild drama played out as Jibrin asked a representative of the Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Abatcha Bulama to vacate the meeting as the name of the head of the commission, Ms Aruma Oteh, was wrongly advertised as one of the invitees.
The House had vowed not to have anything to do with Ms Oteh, following the refusal of the president to sack her as contained in the House’s resolution.