Reps panel seeks exclusion of UI, NECO, others from 2025 budget

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has called for the removal of the National Examination Council, the University of Ibadan, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, and 21 other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies from the 2025 budget estimates.

This followed what the committee called their repeated failure to account for previous budgetary allocations and internally generated revenues.

The resolution of the committee followed the adoption of its recommendation during its extraordinary sitting on Wednesday.

According to the committee, the affected agencies and institutions had consistently shunned summons aimed at ascertaining their financial administration.

Among the agencies recommended for delisting are some of Nigeria’s most prominent federal institutions, including hospitals, universities, and development agencies.

The MDAs recommended for delisting include the Federal Medical Centre, Bida, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria Police Force, Department of Information and Communication Technology and the Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.

Others are the Federal College of Education, Yola, Adamawa State, Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Bayelsa State, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Cross River Basin Development Authority, Nigeria Office for Trade Negotiation, the National Examination Council, Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil and Presidential Amnesty Programme, among others.

Also included are the National Health Insurance Authority, Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, National Space Research and Development Agency, Federal Cooperative College, Ibadan, Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and Federal School of Survey, Oyo State.

The committee’s chairman, Bamidele Salam, said, “The Financial Regulation empowers the National Assembly to exclude any Ministry, Department, or Agency that fails to account for their previous appropriations. As such, the listed MDAs should be excluded from the 2025 budget until they appear before this constitutional committee.”

The committee unanimously recommended that the 24 MDAs should be excluded from the 2025 budget until they appear and provide the necessary answers to the questions asked about their financial dealings.