LEGISLATURE 10/11/2023
Akpabio Asks Tinubu to Sack Disobeying Appointees
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has urged President Bola Tinubu to sack any head of government agency that fails to turn up for the public hearing on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) at the National Assembly.
Some of the ministers and heads of agencies failed to honour the invitations of committees on public hearings, yesterday.
In the MTEF/FSP, the Federal Government pegged the price of crude oil at $73.96; exchange rate at N700/$; oil production at 1.78 million barrels per day; debt service of N8. 25 trillion; inflation at 21 per cent and GDP growth at 3.76 per cent.
The aggregate expenditure is estimated at N26.01 trillion for the 2024 budget, which includes statutory transfers of N1.3 trillion, non-debt recurrent expenditure of N10.26 trillion, debt service estimated at N8.25 trillion, as well as N7.78 trillion provided for personnel and pension cost.
The public hearing was organised by the Senate Joint Committees on Finance; Appropriations; National Planning and Economic Affairs and Local and Foreign Debt to dissect the fiscal document with the chief executives of government-owned agencies with a view to increasing the national revenue base.
The approved MTEF/FSP would set out the parameters upon which next year’s budget will be prepared.