Reps to bar NPA, NCC, NIMASA from spending income

The House of Representatives is moving to stop some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) from further spending and redirecting the income they generate, particularly the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Nigerian Communications Commission and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.

The affected MDAs will now be limited to the Single Treasury Account of the Federal Government while they can only spend funds and for the purpose they were allocated by the National Assembly.

Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Mr Wole Oke, had funded four bills seeking to modify the NPA, NCC and NIMASA Acts and also the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Oke specifically quoted the present problems in the NPA under the management of the suspended Managing Director, Hadiza Bala-Usman.

The ‘Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigerian Ports Authority Act 1999’ seeks to introduce a new subsection under Section 13 of the NPA Act.

It says, “13(a)(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of the principal Act, all revenues that shall accrue to the Authority under any of the sources listed in Section 13 or from any other source shall be paid into the Federation Account.

“(ii) The Authority shall not incur any expenditure except it has been appropriated by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. However, the Authority shall be entitled to seven (7) per cent of all revenue generated as its cost of collection.”

Additionally, the ‘Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act 2007’ seeks to introduce a new subsection under Section 16 of the Act.

It reads, “16(a)(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of the Principal Act, all revenues that shall accrue to the Agency under any of the sources listed in Section 16 or from any other source, shall be paid into the Federation Account.”

Also, the ‘Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigerian Communications Act 2003’ is seeking to remove the present Section 17(3) and introduce a new Section 17(3) that reads, “The commission shall pay all monies accruing to it and all revenue generated by it into the Federation Account and the commission shall be entitled to seven (7) per cent of all revenue generated as its cost of collection.”