By Sola Shittu Senior Correspondent, Abuja



The treasury expects N125 billion from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) this year, especially agencies listed in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

This was disclosed in Abuja on Thursday by House of Representatives Finance Committee Chairman, John Enoh.

The House is also thinking of raising oil price benchmark for the 2011 budget above $65 per barrel (pb), the main source of funding the N4.2 trillion budget.

However, Budget Office Director General, Bright Okogwu, has cautioned the National Assembly (NASS) against raising the benchmark, warning that a crash in oil price will have grave consequences on the budget.

Okogwu simply defended the revenue profile of the 2011 budget and tried to persuade the NASS to stick to it.

The assumptions in the budget are: oil production of 2.3 million barrels per day, oil price of $65 pb, exchange rate of N150 to the Dollar, joint venture cash call $5.4 billion, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of seven per cent.

The budget has a deficit of N1.38 trillion.

Enoh argued that oil is currently selling at between $90 and $100 pb, “And we know that if we allow too much excess money to go into the Excess Crude Account, the executive will simply spend it without the consent of the (NASS).

“We should work towards pushing the oil benchmark to as close as possible to the current market price.”

Okogwu countered: “If we increase the benchmark just because the price of crude is high, it may lead to a situation where you cannot fund the expenditure projected in the budget. So, the budget may crash once the crude oil price falls.

“The market is very volatile. It is very important that we do not overstretch our luck, because if prices fall drastically, we will have nothing to fall back on; since we depend solely on oil revenue to fund our budget.”

However, the Committee charged revenue generating agencies to help bring an additional N300 billion to government coffers this year to reduce the budget deficit.

Okogwu had informed the lawmakers that the revenue drive fetched only N153 billion last year.

He said the Customs is expected to remit at least N450 billion in 2011, but the Committee maintained the figure could be higher.

About 32 agencies which spend their internally generated revenue (IGR) are required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act to lay their budgets before the National Assembly (NASS) through the Finance Ministry.

Among them are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Customs, and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The lawmakers frowned at the habit of some of them spending their IGR, and were not pleased that no official came from the NPA, CAC, the Customs, NNPC, and NAFDAC to defend their budgets.

Enoh maintained that, “No ministry will claim that it does not have revenue to remit to government purse. Every money realised by government agencies must be remitted into government coffers.

“No matter how small, no agency will say it does not make any revenue. Though a few agencies have been privatised, those not privatised will be subjected to the scrutiny of the National Assembly.”

He said lawmakers hope that Nigeria will be better in 2011, but there is concern about remittances by the agencies.

Enoh  warned that excuses of being empowered by their establishing laws to spend their IGR without  appropriation by the NASS would no longer be tolerated, because it breaches the Constitution.

The House may amend such establishing laws if they are inconsistent with the Constitution, Enoh said.

Okogwu added that his office has on several occasions told agencies not to spend government revenue.

He commended the Committee for calling the meeting, saying that what the government expects is that agencies remit their surpluses after making expenditure.

“Even if you are a small agency, whatever you remit as the surplus means that the laws of the land have been respected, which we are pushing for.

“We are trying to see that lines of expenditures that are not supposed to be made are not made,” Okogwu clarified.

He said that a Bill would soon be sent to the NASS to make all agencies comply with the remittance requirement.



http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=28299

Our economy might collapse if they succeed.