Monitor MDAs To Meet Budget Targets, Group Tasks NASS

Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has called on the National Assembly (NASS) to monitor revenue-generating Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure the country meets its budget targets for 2024.

The president of ICSAN, Mrs. Funmi Ekundayo, stated this during the fourth quarter media parley of ICSAN, held at the institute’s secretariat inLagos.

Recall that on November 29, this year, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, presented the sum of N27.5 trillion as the proposed 2024 budget, which he termed the “Budget of Renewed Hope.”

The ICSAN boss is of the opinion that the early release by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the 2024 appropriation bill signifies the right measure in the right direction.

She said: “In some recent years in the past, we were accustomed to delays in the budgeting process contrary to the statutory budgetary calendar cycle provided in the constitution (section 82.1 of the 1999 Constitution). The effects of such delays, as our past experience can show, are far-reaching, with their negative and cascading consequences on all aspects of national life.

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“You can see a government that also wants to ensure that things pick up as quickly as possible economically. In the past, we used to have such long delays with their attendant negative impacts on national life generally. But this has actually set a good tone; when the budget is presented on time, it leads to early discussion, early approval, and also early implementation.

On the issue of the implementation of this budget, she said: “we will task the National Assembly to ensure adequate oversight and effective monitoring of all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that generate revenues to ensure that they are put on their toes to meet their respective revenue targets. can conveniently do this through the oversight functions of the standing committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.”

In response to inquiries regarding the economic implications of subsidy removal, Ekundayo articulated that, “while we are looking at the fallout from that, we also need to look at the rationale that led to the removal of fuel subsidy in the first instance and also need to look at the benefits that have accrued to us as a nation by virtue of the removal and its potential long-term benefits for our economy as a whole. The positive impact might not be felt instantaneously, and this is made without any intention of defending or criticising the government’s actions.

“Let’s also put our minds on the fact that all of the socioeconomic problems did not happen just yesterday, and whatever policies are being put in place, whatever efforts are being put in place by the government, there must still be a gestation period to see all this fused together and give us the better environmental satisfaction that we want to see.”