Reps Target $60 Oil Benchmark, Review Fuel Subsidy Expenditure

The House of Representatives has said it would ensure proper scrutiny of the N4.89trn which the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), planned to borrow in order to fund the 2022 budget deficit.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, stated this while briefing journalists on the activities of the House on Thursday.

The spokesperson added that the leadership of the House had affirmed its position to review the proposed oil benchmark from $56 per barrel to $60 in the 2022 fiscal year.

Kalu also unveiled plans to review the fuel subsidy expenditure being implemented unilaterally by the executive without appropriation.

He said, “Findings by the committee which would occupy front burners as we resume, one of which was data not coherent between the agencies like Customs, PPPRA, NNPC and all the rest of them especially on issues like, what is exactly the amount of crude oil produced per day, what is the level of our PMS consumption per day.

“These things are necessary because there is a determination by the House to close up areas of leakages of funds so that the Federal Government would have enough to take care of the welfare of citizens.”

He expressed concern over the poor level of revenue remittance by Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

He assured Nigerians that plans were underway to review the Establishment Act, with a view to blocking leakages.

He adding that many agencies were merely recycling budgets, while some agencies were spending their internally generated revenue in flagrant disregard to the provisions of the Constitution.

He said, “We have also observed that some MDAs were not remitting sufficiently to the Federation Account, they were under-remitting and there were agencies that were not remitting at all because their establishment Acts do not give them the permission to remit.

“We need to amend some of those establishment acts, because of the impact of COVID, the government is looking for money from left, right and centre and if there are leakages that have been encouraged by the Establishment Act, that piece of legislation will be looked into for possible amendment.