NASS order FG To Freezes FCCPC Account, Remove DFA For Gross Misconduct
By Urube Peter, Abuja.
For acting on impulse as against the extant provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act FRA 2007 and the Financial Regulations the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Tuesday directed that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Mrs Zainab Ahmed freezes the account of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commision FCCPC.
The James Faleke led Committee arrived at this decision following the underemittance of about N2 billion to the coffers of the federal government out of the N4.5 billion being the 2021 Internally Generated Revenue IGR of the agency
The lawmaker after reviewing the remittances of the agency to the Consolidated Revenue Fund CRF of the federation, said that it only remitted N1.5 billion to the coffers leaving a balance of N2 billion.
Chairman of the House probe panel Hon Faleke ruled that no funds should be withdrawn from the agency’s account until the the Director of Finance DFA is removed or redeployed.
According to the House Committee, it is illogical that while the federal government is set to borrow N11 billion to fund the 2023 budget, deficit, the agency had spent more than half of its IGR in a financial year in unapproved spendings.
Faleke while grilling the Executive Commissioner Operations Dr Ahmed Abdullahi and Director of Finance Akinyoghon Ojo had told the officers that all revenue generating agencies are mandated by the FRA 2007 to remit their IGR 100% annually to the government.
The lawmkers became more infuriated when they asked the appearing officials if the agency is fully funded by the federal government and they responded in the affirmative.
Faleke said: “You got 4 billion and you spent N3 billion. I cannot take it.
“The Director of Finance DFA has the responsibility to obey the Financial Regulations. If he defaults he should be removed. Give me his service number”.
In his observation, Hon.Olajide Stanley said that the agency in 2021 spent N74 million for computer installation and another N70 million after six months for computer software asking for clarification on these expenditures.
Earlier, the executive officer while presenting the 2021 budget funds as approved for the agency by the National Assembly had told the committee that the agency generated N3.66 billion as IGR as at July 2021 but expended N2 billion on office maintenance.
The agency boss further said that the office is targeting N13 trillion as revenue in 2022 adding that N10 biilion out of this sum will be paid directly into the federal government account.
But the Committee Chairman Hon.Faleke said that the money spent by the agency in the budget under the IGR remittances review is not approved and backed by the nation’s Appropriation Act.
He thereafter directed that the Clerk of the Committee’s secretariat should write to the Finance Minister to freeze the remaining N513 million in the agency’s operations account until the DFA is removed or deployed by the authorities
For acting on impulse as against the extant provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act FRA 2007 and the Financial Regulations the House of Representatives Committee on Finance directed that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Mrs Zainab Ahmed freezes the account of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commision FCCPC.
The James Faleke led Committee arrived at this decision following the underemittance of about N2 billion to the coffers of the federal government out of the N4.5 billion being the 2021 Internally Generated Revenue IGR of the agency.
The lawmaker after reviewing the remittances of the agency to the Consolidated Revenue Fund CRF of the federation, said that it only remitted N1.5 billion to the coffers leaving a balance of N2 billion.
Chairman of the House probe panel Hon Faleke ruled that no funds should be withdrawn from the agency’s account until the Director of Finance D
