Senate to amend Fiscal Responsibility Act, 16 years after enactment

Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sen. Sani Musa (APC-Niger East) says the Senate will amend the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007) to make it more functional.

The Act established the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) which has the duty to ensure that revenue-raising policies, resource allocation decisions and debt management decisions are undertaken in a prudent, transparent and timely fashion.

Musa said in Abuja on Monday at the on-going 2024 budget defence by Ministries Departments and Agencies of government that the Senate would work on the FRA to strengthen the commission and engender human capital development.

“We are worried every day about the huge debt burden we are experiencing in Nigeria.

“We must abide by the law. Sub-national governments are not supposed to go to banks to collect overdraft without clearance or proof of compliance issued by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission,’’ he said.

Musa assured the FRC that the Senate was ready to create a better working environment for it as its inputs were yielding positive results on revenue.

He expressed the hope that the Appropriation Committee of the Senate would agree with the finance committee and do something positive about the budget of the FRC.

Earlier, FRC chairman, Mr Victor Murakor appealed to the Senate Committee on Finance to continue to support the Commission in actualising its mandate.

He emphasised the need for adequate funding for the successful implementation of the Act.

Murakor also solicited the assistance of the Senate and expressed the willingness of the FRC to ensure higher remittances of revenue by ministries, departments and agencies of government.