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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said on Thursday that revenue-generating Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are diverting revenue that ought to be remitted to the Federal Government.
Gbajabiamila stated this while declaring open a five-day interactive session organised by the House Committee on Finance to interact with revenue generating agencies on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)/Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The Speaker, who said the practice has resulted in the government scrambling for money to finance critical projects, warned that the House will no longer tolerate it.
He stated that the House appreciates the fact that the country is facing a financial crisis, which will not abate in the medium term, adding that the legislature is committed to using the appropriation process to accomplish the country’s most developmental objectives.
According to him, ‘our country is currently facing a fiscal crisis, compounded by the intense disruption that has been wrought on our economic performance and financial projections by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are not the only ones. Nations all over the world, including those we rightly consider to be leading lights, are facing a moment of reckoning that is redefining the way government operates.
‘All of us in the House of Representatives recognise that the challenges we now face will not abate in the medium term. Yet, we are committed to using the appropriations process as a tool for accomplishing our nation’s most pressing development objectives. We have a responsibility to act with urgent determination to build the infrastructure of opportunity that is required to lift millions of our fellow citizens out of poverty.’
