Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has expressed displeasure over the failure by most government agencies to submit their 2017 budget proposals to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.

The Senate President condemned the practice where agencies of government spend money without statutory approval by the National Assembly and ruled that the issue be debated and resolution taken.

“We are already in May.  How can Parastatals be operating without any budget, especially in this time of the fight against corruption and ensuring that there is transparency in governance?

“We need to take this matter seriously because clearly these agencies are just flouting the guidelines and breaking the law.

“This is a very serious issue because as we all know, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, these budgets are meant to have been submitted to the National Assembly since August 2016.

“They are  supposed to have come with the Appropriation document. We have now passed the 2017 budget without the budgets of the parastatals.

“I think this matter really needs to come up as a motion because this is a very serious matter. We need to debate it,” he said.

He said that any committee that has received budget proposals from the parastatal it oversights should also be on ground to clear such agencies of government.

“But if as at middle of May, we are saying we have not received any budget from them, then which money are they spending and with what authority?

“We need to look into that and take a decision that may be they can only pay salaries until they bring their budgets here and approvals given.

“I think once and for all, we need to address this issue and put an end to this disregard for laws and areas of corrupt practices,” Saraki said.

While briefing newsmen after plenary on Tuesday, Spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi  said that only four agencies out of 38 had submitted their budget.

The agencies that had concurred included: the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

Top on the list of the 34 agencies yet to submit their budget are: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS),

Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority,  Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Maritime Authority, Nigerian Shippers Council, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Others are: Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),  Radio Nigeria, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), National Communications Commission (NCC) National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) among others.

Recall that in 2016 President Muhammadu Buhari submitted the Appropriation Bill along with the budget of all the 38 parastatals and agencies of government.

However, only the aforementioned four agencies had their budget submitted along with the 2017 Appropriation Bill which has now been approved by the National Assembly.