The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has threatened to sanction government agencies that fail to honour the invitation to the ongoing hearing on Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

The deputy chairman of the committee, Musa Abdullahi (APC-Niger), issued the warning at Wednesday’s session of the hearing in Abuja.

He said the committee had invited agencies for “this all important exercise’’, but most of them had unfortunately shown apathy.

“It is very unfortunate that while we are making this sacrifice, the agencies are not turning up as expected; the National Assembly will not take this lightly with the agencies, it is a call to national duty,” he said.

The lawmaker said the parliament was in recess, but because of the importance of the exercise, committee members called off their break to take up the national assignment.

“We do not understand why they should shy away from responding to the responsibility imposed on them. It should be a point of note that all agencies that have been invited must cause appearance.

“Otherwise, we will rely on the power conferred on us by the constitution to make them responsible. This apathy is not something that should be acceptable to anybody, and we will not accept it.

“We have agencies that are highly irresponsible. If this country is not working today, let it be out there so that Nigerians will know that it is on the shoulders of the agencies,’’ he said. 

(NAN)