We ‘ll Carry Out Needs Assessment of the 2022 Budget-Reps Spokesman.

.Assures a revisit to the Electoral Act.

Jonas Ezieke, Abuja

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs Hon.Benjamin Kalu has said that the House would carry out a needs assessment of the 2022 Federal Government of Nigeria FGN budget before its appropriation by parliament.

He further said that House would revisit the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 which the lawmakers passed into law on 16th of July 2021 when both chambers of the apex legislature the National Assembly embarked on annual recess.

The lawmaker made the disclosure in a press briefing of the House on Thursday after resumption of plenary session by the House after two months long recess on Tuesday September 14, 2021

Kalu said that the National Assembly and the Executive arm of government are partners in progress in the passage into law of the 2022 budget and the parliament would critically analyze the needs asssessment of the budget before approving the fiscal instrument.

By this assessment, he explained that all the projects contained in the annual budgets by mininistries, departments and agencies MDAs of goverment that do not reflect the need of the people ‘ll be shown the way out of the budget.

Speaking further on the request by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly to borrow a huge sum of N4.8 trillion to finance critical projects in the country, he said that the parliament would demand details of the projects to be financed by the loan from the federal government.

He said that as lawmakers they are also worried like citizens by the frequency of these loan requests from the Presidency but they believe that Covid-19 pandemic which affected economies globally would make such loan requests by President Buhari imperative.

The Abia State born All Progreasives Congress APC lawmaker further said that they are working assidiously towards an increase in the capital expenditure component of the annual budgets to fastrack national development.

He noted and lamented that capital expenditure in the 2021 federal budget of N13.98 trillion is only 26%of the enitre budget with an overall aggregate revenue projection of N7.6 trillion.

The lawmaker also hinted that the House ‘ll soon commence the process of amendment of the establishment Acts of many MDAs who have consistently failed to remit the percentage of their internally generated revenues to the federal government coffers as provided by laws.

He explains that there were very many unsettling revelations from some federal government agencies in the course of the interractive interface between them and the House Committee on Finance on the abuse of the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 on revenue.