Reps Reschedule Budget Session With FCT Minister Of State, Others Next Monday

The House of Representatives Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils and Ancillary Matters rescheduled the budget defence session with the Minister of State for FCT, Dr Mariya Bunkure, and heads of some agencies will meet on Monday next week.

The panel decided when the minister appeared before it on Tuesday for the exercise after her initial non-appearance on Monday, which forced the lawmakers to summon her.

Bunkure apologised for her inability to honour the committee’s initial invitation, attributing her absence to the short notice given and appealing for more time to prepare adequately for the budget defence.

The committee declared that the Minister of State was yet to defend the budget under her purview despite the earlier presentation by the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, before the joint Senate and House Committees on the FCT.

Wike defended the proposed N1.78 trillion 2025 statutory budget of the FCT before the joint committees at the National Assembly complex last Wednesday.

However, the chairman of the House Committee on Area Councils and Ancillary Matters, Hon. Fredrick Agbedi, clarified that the budget segments supervised by Bunkure were not covered in that presentation, as Wike had appeared before a different committee.

This clarification followed the minister of state’s claim that she did not anticipate a separate appearance, assuming Wike’s defence had covered all aspects of the FCT budget.

Agbedi stated that only Bunkure was responsible for defending the budgets of the departments and agencies under her supervision, emphasising that Wike’s appearance did not extend to those areas.

“The areas the President assigned to you are also under our oversight,” Agbedi told the Minister. “Only you can speak to their budget performance and projections. That is why you are expected to appear before this committee.

“You are the one mandated to defend the budget of these areas before this committee. The Minister (Wike) oversees jurisdictions under the FCT Committee, which does not include your departments. We, however, have oversight over your area of responsibility.

“When we carried out our oversight functions, it was not within the responsibilities of the Minister. We need to know what was appropriated to you, how it was spent, what challenges were encountered, and what provisions to make for 2025. Therefore, our committee was not involved when you appeared with the Minister before the FCT Committee.

“These are two separate and distinct committees with different mandates and membership. It is your responsibility to budget for, execute, and oversee the agencies and departments under your jurisdiction, and then interface with this committee,” he said.

Agbedi warned that if the committee’s process is not followed correctly, the House may be misled into approving a budget without the necessary legislative scrutiny.

“Only this committee can consider and recommend your budget to the House for final passage. You must appear with the relevant agencies under your purview to defend their budget before us,” the lawmaker noted.

For his part, Hon. Ahmad Jaha, a committee member, reiterated that, from their perspective, the FCT has yet to defend its 2025 budget fully.

No member of this committee was present at the session where the Minister (Wike) defended the budget,” Jaha said.

He added that the committee was prepared for a thorough review and asked the Minister to propose a convenient date for her appearance.

“We are giving you the privilege of suggesting a convenient time so we can check our schedule. It’s going to take at least two or three days. This time around, it won’t be business as usual. We will go through each department, scrutinising their performance and projections, one after the other.”

Jaha also warned that any delay in her reappearance could lead to serious consequences for the budget’s approval process.

“If you fail to adhere to the agreed date, it won’t be our fault if your budget approval is delayed, possibly into December,” he added.