The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has recommended the exclusion of 24 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), including the National Examinations Council (NECO) and the University of Ibadan (UI), from the 2025 federal budget.
The decision was reached during an extraordinary sitting in Abuja, citing the MDAs’ repeated failure to account for prior budgetary allocations and internally generated revenue.
Rep. Bamidele Salam, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, explained that the resolution followed persistent non-compliance by the affected MDAs.
He noted that several invitations had been sent to these agencies over the past months, yet they failed to attend hearings or submit the required financial documentation.
“The Financial Regulation empowers the National Assembly to exclude any ministry, department or agency (MDA) 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,” he stated.
Agencies facing delisting
The MDAs recommended for delisting include a mix of educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and development agencies. Among them are:
- Federal Medical Centre, Bida
- Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria
- Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment
- Nigeria Police Force
- Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba
- Federal College of Education, Yola
- Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe
The committee emphasized that these agencies’ failure to comply with financial accountability requirements hampers transparency and effective governance.
Legislative authority
The Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation is grounded in the Financial Regulation, which grants the National Assembly the authority to withhold budgetary provisions from non-compliant MDAs.
The committee unanimously resolved that the affected MDAs would remain excluded from the 2025 budget unless they appear before the committee and provide the necessary clarifications on their financial operations.
This move highlights the House’s commitment to enforcing financial discipline and ensuring accountability across government institutions.
What you should know
The federal budget serves as a roadmap for allocating national resources, enabling the funding of essential services, developmental projects, and institutional operations.
- Each year, MDAs receive allocations based on their projected needs and contributions to national development.
- The House of Representatives has also initiated an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of N350 billion in the implementation of the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project, funded by the World Bank. The investigation follows concerns raised by Rep. Chike Okafor regarding the misapplication of the $232 million loan allocated to the program.
- Okafor criticized the project’s ineffective outcomes, despite its well-intended goals, citing worsening nutrition indicators such as increased stunting and malnutrition among children, as reported in the 2023/2024 Nigerian Demographic Health Survey.