From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives has charged President Bola Tinubu to direct heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to appear before lawmakers to defend the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)/Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
Chairman, House Committee on Finance, James Faleke, who gave the charge at an interactive session on MTEF/FSP organised by the Committee for MDAs, on government finance, expressed displeasure over the failure of heads of MDAs to honour the invitation of the House.
Faleke, who stated that the parliament needed to pass the MTEF/FSP before the presentation of the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly, said the committee had written letters to all the relevant MDAs to appear before it to defend their submissions in accordance with extant laws.
However, he said the heads of MDAs were ignoring the invitation.
The lawmaker explained the sessions with the heads of the MDAs and relevant stakeholders was to ensure a realistic MTEF/FSP, ahead of the presentation of the 2024 budget by President Tinubu.
He said: “We want to make it clear that any delay arising from the passage of the budget is not the fault of the National Assembly. So, we want to appeal to President Tinubu to direct all his ministers and agencies to appear before us to defend their budget.
“As the representatives of the people, a position which we occupy in trust for them, we owe Nigerians the onerous responsibility of delivering the democratic dividends to the door steps of our constituents in line with our campaign promises.”
Meanwhile, the committee has summoned the Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Afiz Oluwatoyin, to appear before it unfailingly next week. The lawmakers had rejected the ITF Director of Finance and Account, Attah Sophia, who appeared before them to represent Oluwatoyin.