Senate Set To Amend Fiscal Responsibility Act

Sixteen years into its existence, the Senate has resolved to amend the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007, based on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) report.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) is one of the most critical agencies of Government because its role is not just to monitor the fiscal policies but also to help generate what the monetary policies can achieve.
Speaking on Monday  in Abuja  during the ongoing 2023 budget defence and 2024 budget presentation at the National Assembly, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator MuhammedSani Musa (APC, Niger East), explained that the Senate was going to work on the FRA, 2007 and look at those areas that they feel can strengthen the Commission.
Senator Musa said, “We are worried every day about the huge debt burden we are experiencing in Nigeria.
“We have made laws, and we must abide by those laws because most sub-national governments are not supposed to go to any bank to collect any overdraft without clearance or proof of compliance from the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.”
The lawmaker assured that the Senate was ready to create a better working environment for the Commission and commended the Commission for making inputs that were already yielding positive results on revenue.
Senator Musa who noted that the Upper legislative Chamber  was going to consider this at the Committee level and make recommendation to the Senate, said that his hope was that the appropriation Committee of the Senate would reason with them and do something about the budget proposal of the Commission.
In his presentation, the Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission,  Barrister Victor Muruako appealed to the Senate Committee on Finance to continue supporting the Commission in actualizing her mandate, emphasising on adequate funding for the successful implementation of the Act.
He therefore solicited the assistance of the Senate and expressed the willingness of the Commission to ensure higher remittances of revenue by the ministries, departments and agencies.
Muruako who  considered the proposal of independent revenue generation estimated  N3m as an error, proposed a further increase to the sum of N20m and expressed the hope that this would be attained while challenging other agencies to improve on their revenue drive.