The House of Representatives Committee on Finance, on Tuesday, directed the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Agency (ICRC), the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) the Nigeria Sugar Development Commission (NSDC) to furnish it with details of their budget performances in the 2024 fiscal year.
The Chairman of the committee, James Faleke gave this directive at the committee’s interactive session with key agencies on budget performance.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the presentations, especially the breakdown of revenue and expenditures from the agencies.
The committee said there is a need for the agencies to present comprehensive details as required by standard accounting and financial practices.
The ICRC was directed to provide details of all concessionaires and the fees charged since 2008, after a presentation by the Director of Infrastructure of the agency, Shehu Sani Danmusa who represented the Director General (DG), Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh.
In his submission, the Chairman of NERC, Sunusi Garba who also presented the income and expenditure of the agency’s 2023 and 2024 informed the committee that the main sources of revenue of the agency is the electricity market.
He said, “The law provides that we prepare a budget and take just enough from the electricity market to fund our operation. Meaning that the amount we take from the market depends on the budget that we prepare.
“So in the early days of the commission, when the market was a little bit immature, the commission was taking money from the market and the federal appropriation. But in the last, I think one, two years or even three years, the commission has been 100% dependent on the workings of the market for our revenues”.
The committee thereafter directed the NERC to submit details of its revenues and expenditures as well as invoices to industry players on energy purchases and reconciliations.
The committee equally expressed dissatisfaction with the expenditures of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) over its alleged frivolous spending on non-essential like foreign travel, and office renovations while neglecting core responsibilities to develop the sugar sector.
In his presentation, the Director General (DG), of NSDC, Kamal Bakari in his presentation informed that the organisation is being funded principally by the Sugar Levy and other revenues.
The committee, therefore, directed the Commission to do due diligence and provide it with a more comprehensive record that it will use to determine its budget performance.
Other agencies that attended the meeting were also directed to do the same while the committee resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to analyse the budget performance of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
