The President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio has called on President Bola Tinubu to consider sacking 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.
Africa Today News, New York reports that some of the ministers and heads of agencies had on Thursday failed to honour the invitations of committees on public hearings.
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.
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The public hearing was put together 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.
Recall that Akpabio had in October, assured that there is no likelihood of senators resorting to physical altercations, regardless of the intensity of their disagreements.
Within the democratic framework, the Senate President asserted the principle that the minority’s voices would be heard, while the decisions would reflect the preferences of the majority.
Senator Akpabio briefed the press following a private discussion with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.