Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has asked President Bola Tinubu to sanction invited heads of government Ministries, Department and Agency (MDAs), who failed to appear for deliberations on 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
Mr Akpabio said this when he opened the 2024-2026 MTEF/FSP interactive session in Abuja on Thursday.
The session was organised by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance, Appropriation, National Planning and Local and Foreign Debt.
Mr Akpabio said any invited serious minded head of any MDA interested in the success of President Bola Tinubu ought to be present at the interaction.
” If you do not plan on how to succeed, then you have planned to fail, I therefore remind our committee that any serious appointee or any head of any agency that is interested in the success of President Bola Tinubu’s administration ought to be here.
“The Chairman of the lead committee (Finance), should give me the list of all the Heads of Agencies that you invited who have failed to show up in this session, this is the beginning of their failure in their various offices.
“Any head of agency that sends representation here is not a serious person and therefore, the President must take a second look at such a person’ s appointment.
” It is not a threat but the truth. I even shelved my appointment to appear in Owerri today for the final rally of my party and all other schedules that I have to make sure that I appear so that we can strategise on how we can succeed,” he said.
Mr Akpabio said the interactive session was a landmark, as it was the first in the administration of Mr Tinubu.
He said the timing and urgency of the MTEF and FSP proceedings was in pursuant of the goal of keeping to the re-established January- December budget cycle.
He said the 2024-2026 MTEF/FSP was being considered at a time that events at the global scene and locally, were putting massive negative financial and socio- economic pressure on Nigeria from most development indices.
“While we acknowledge that the majority of our people are going through very difficult times in their daily lives at present, we are very hopeful that in the medium term and in the long run, the Nigerian economy is bound to rebound for relief to the majority of our people,” he said.
He called for frank and honest discussions of all the parameters and indices contained in the 2024-2026 MTEF/FSP.
He said to reduce budget deficits required the nation to look inward toward increased revenue generation, blocking of leakages and restraints on what are generally frivolous expenditures by MDAs particularly the Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs).
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa, said the MIEF/FSP document represents a roadmap that charts the economic and financial course of the nation for the upcoming years 2024-2026.
He said it was the duty of the Senate and stakeholders not only to scrutinize but to ensure that the MTEF, FSP 2024-2026 aligns with the best interest of Nigerians, whom they represent.