The House of Representatives has directed Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Agency (ICRC) and Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to provide details of their budget performances to ascertain their compliance with extant financial regulatory laws.
Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Rep. James Faleke, stated this in Abuja on Tuesday when the agencies appeared before the committee.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other agencies involved included: Nigeria Sugar Development Commission (NSDC) and others.
NAN also reports that the directive was given through resolutions when the agencies appeared before the committee at its resumed interactive session with key agencies on budget performances on Tuesday.
The committee directed ICRC to provide details of all concessionaires and the fees charged since 2008, after a presentation by the agency’s Director of Infrastructure, Shehu Danmusa.
NAN reports that Danmusa represented the Director-General of ICRC, Dr Jobson Ewalefoh at the hearing.
Faleke, however, picked holes in the presentation, especially the breakdown of revenue and expenditure.
He stressed the need for the agency to present a comprehensive detail as required by standard accounting and financial practices.
Chairman of NERC, Mr Sunusi Garba, who presented the agency’s 2023 and 2024 income and expenditure, informed the committee that the main source of revenue for the agency was the electricity market.
“The law provides that we prepare a budget and take just enough from the electricity market to fund our operations, meaning that the amount we take from the market depends on the budget that we prepare.
“So, in the early days of the commission, when the market was a little bit immature, the commission was taking money from the market and the federal appropriation.
“But in the end, I think one, two years, or even three years, the commission has been 100 per cent dependent on the workings of the market for our revenues,” Garba said. (NAN)
