The National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance has decried the failure of some government revenue-generating agencies to honour invitations and appear for the 2025 budget defence.

The committee issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the agencies to appear or risk withdrawal of funding for 2025 operations.

The agencies are the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Postal Service (NPS), and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

Others are the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The Nigerian Copyright Commission, National Insurance Commission, National Pensions Commission, National Space and Research Development Agency, and the Nigerian Metrological Agency are also included.

Also included are Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporations, Airspace Management Authority, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Limited, Transmission Company of Nigeria, Bank of Industry (BIO), and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa (APC-Niger), said President Bola Tinubu, while presenting the 2025 budget to the National Assembly, mandated all ministers and heads of agencies to appear to defend their respective budgets before the assembly with every sense of responsibility.

The senator said members of the National Assembly had to cut short their Christmas holidays to attend to the national assignment.

“But to our dismay, a lot of agencies have refused to honour our invitations to appear before us, for us to scrutinise their performances in 2024 and look at their 2025 projection, if it is justifiable.

“So by virtue of the constitutional powers that have been given to the joint committees on finance of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, we are given the chief executives of these agencies 48 hours to appear before this joint committee.

“Failure to do that, the committee will not hesitate to recommend to the Appropriation Committee to withhold any appropriation to these agencies.

“If these agencies are self-funded, we will also request both the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold their funding,” he said.

Also, the House Committee on Finance chairman, Rep. James Faleke (APC-Lagos state), said the essence of the budget defence was to boost revenue generation and reduce borrowing.

“If these agencies refuse to appear before us, the needful will be done by the National Assembly,” he said.

(NAN)