The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has directed the Budget Office to suspend the budget of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, until the committee concludes investigation into the account of the agency.
James Faleke, the chairman of the committee, gave the directive on Tuesday, August 24, 2021, at the public hearing into the Medium Term Expenditure Frame, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
The committee slammed the agency for spending more than they are generating. At the hearing, it was discovered that the agency was increasing its salaries and allowances despite not recruiting in 3years.
Garba Abubakar, the Registrar of CAC was unable to defend their revenue and expenditure before the committee.
Sada Soli, a member of the committee, accused the CAC of cooking their books to hide the situation.
Faleke, who was visibly vexed with the CAC ruled that the commission should present the account of the commission to the committee by Thursday.
He ordered that the Budget office should not reach an agreement with the CAC until the committee has finished its investigation.
“You will have to submit to us by Thursday this week, unfailingly. Budget Office, you are going to be inviting CAC to your office, you do not have an agreement with them until they are done with us, we are making this clear to you, there should be no budgetary approval for them until we finish with them. If we have to close that CAC to make money for Nigeria, let us do it,” Faleke ruled.
The Committee also condemned the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, was also condemned by the committee for the inconsistent records.
The agency has been asked to appear before the committee on Wednesday.
