Nigeria – Senate rejects Nuclear Authority’s 2018 budget proposal “inconsistencies”

Lambasts DG for spending N367m without approval

SENATE committee on Upstream Petroleum yesterday rejected the 2018 budget proposals of Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, NNRA, for some inconsistencies dictated in the documents presented by the agency.

By Okechukwu Jombo December 14, 2017

http://nigerianpilot.com/senate-rejects-nuclear-authoritys-2018-budget-proposal/

This was as it lambasted the agency for generating an estimated N490million and spent N367million without National Assembly approval. Chairman, Senate Committee on Upstream Petroleum, Senator Tayo Alasoaodura (Ondo Central) handed down this directives yesterday when director general, Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Prof. Dim Lawrence appeared before the committee to present the agency’s budget estimate.

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The committee, while reviewing the performance of the agency’s 2017 budget, discovered that the agency has been in the habit of generating money and spending same without due regard to National Assembly approval. It also noticed some discrepancies in the figures presented to the committee in addition to failure to furnish the committee with comparative budget analysis.

The chairman there and then directed the committee’s clerk to write to all MDAs that they must present the committee with comparative budget analysis of their 2018 budget before appearing before the committee to defend their budget” He insisted that any MDAs that appeared before the committee on budget defence without the comparative analysis would not be allowed to present their budget.

“So director, you have to take this 2018 budget proposal back and do the comparative analysis before bringing it back to us for consideration. The figures are there and any budget that has no comparative analysis would be difficult to consider. Without this essential component of the budget how do we move forward. Look at the salary you showed us. The salary last year was too much. You had a shortfall; you gave us a figure this year how do we compare it with what we had last year and there was a shortfall of over N400million,” he queried. “Do we have to go back to this one before we can refer it with this one with 2018.So please come back on Friday by 12noon with the entire requirement for the 2018 budget.”

Reacting to the NNRA 2017 budget, Senator Clifford Ordia (Edo Central) said,

“I want to believe that you deliberately did what you did because you didn’t want to be transparent. This is not the first time you are presenting a budget and you know what it entails.”

Contributing, Senator Gershom Bassey (Cross River South), who is the vice chairman of the committee, said,

“Here we have a case of constitution breach and I think we have to go into committee look at matter.”

Also, Senator Alasoaodura noted that

“our resolution is that you will have to furnish us with how you expended the N367million internally generated revenue without the National Assembly approval because what you did is against the law. Seconding you must project what you will expend this year and present to this committee to review and appropriate. This information would be forwarded to the Senate plenary for consideration. Internally generated revenue of Agencies of government must be presented to the senate for consideration. We frown on anybody generating money and spending it without presenting it to the parliament for appropriation. It is unconstitutional and we will not encourage it.”