Reps raise doubts over $38 benchmark for 2016 budget

The House of Representatives on Monday raised doubts over the workability of the $38 the Federal Government set as the crude oil benchmark for the 2016 budget.

Its joint Committees on Finance, Appropriations, Aids/Loans/Debt Management deliberated on the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework in Abuja on Monday where members feared that the benchmark might not be sustainable.

At another sitting of an ad hoc committee investigating “fraudulent practices” in the remittance of non-oil revenues by government agencies, the lawmakers advised that attention should be shifted to non-oil revenues as the saving grace for the budget.

The chairman of the ad hoc committee and member of the joint committees on MTEF, Mr. Chike Okafor, said there were concerns over the tumbling prices of oil.

He recalled that while President Muhammadu Buhari pegged the benchmark at $38 at the time oil was $40 per barrel, the price had dropped to about $35 in one week.

“The 2016 budget has issues with the benchmark; we have been discussing it at the meeting of the joint committees on MTEF.

“When the President brought the MTEF, the benchmark was pegged at $38.

“Now, it is $35, far below the benchmark,” he stated.

Okafor noted that the situation called for urgent need for the government to shift attention to non-oil revenue agencies.

“We are looking at the activities of these revenue agencies in the last four years.

“We have to know what they are generating, what they remit to government and how it can be improved upon.

“We are looking at their accounts and account balances and evidence of tax remittances, among others,” Okafor added.

However, as the session started, the committee walked out representatives of the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission.

The committee felt slighted that the heads of the agencies failed to turn up for the hearing, but preferred to send representatives to “such an important national assignment.”

The NCC’s spokesperson, Mr. Anthony Ojobor, led the team from the NCC, instead of the Executive Vice-Chairman, who was invited by the committee.

The NDDC also sent its Executive Director, Finance, instead of the Managing Director of the commission.

But, the committee declined to receive any presentation from the officials as they were walked out of the venue. On its part, the Nigerian Television Authority told the committee that it had been using N67m of its revenue monthly to offset a loan it took through the Debt Management Office to buy broadcast equipment.

Its Director General, Mr. Shola Omole, added that the 25 per cent of the revenue generated by NTA’s 109 stations was remitted promptly to government.