Reps deny FIRS’ extra budgetary report

The House of Representatives has dismissed a report in a national daily claiming it had uncovered extra budgetary expenditure by the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

A national newspaper Aljazeera had in its last weekend editor published a lead story titled, “Fraud: Reps Uncover Job Racketeering, extra budgetary expenditure in CA, NDIC, FIRS.”

However, in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday, Deputy Spokesperson of the House, Chief Philip Agbese described the report as false and unfounded.

He said, “The House notes that the said report is nothing but a figment of the writer’s imagination. As a parliament, our activities are open to Nigerians and we are the first to admit that we have a lot of work to do take our beloved country to the next level.

“Let me state here that at no point did we find anything fishy in the books of the FIRS. Only recently, the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Zaccheaus Adedeji reiterated the commitment of the agency to achieve its N19.4 trillion target.

“In 2023, FIRS surpassed it revenue target by 107 per cent, which represents a 56.9 per cent increase from the previous year’s revenue and 67.91 per cent from the previous year’s target.

“We are pleased with the FIRS even though we want them to continue the nation’s tax net for more revenue generation. ”

Agbese called on media practitioners to be diligent in their job, stressing that before filing their report, they should endeavouTo cross check their information.

“Journalism is a profession of verification. You don’t public hearsay beer parlour speculations. It is wrong to attribute to the House what it never said or did,” he added.

That sai, the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker urged journalists to take advantage of the access to the House Spokesman and the Deputy Spokesman to get the true position of things concerning the House.

“Our leader, Akin Rotimi’s doors are always open. Feel free to clarify anything from him. I am always available too to volunteer information about the workings of the Green Chamber,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hon Agbese has assured Nigerians that the House has enough time to properly review the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the 2025 Appropriation Bill when both executive bills are transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu.

Recall that on October 16, 2024, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Clement Jimbo drew his colleagues’ attention to the fact that the 2025 budget estimates have not been presented before the National Assembly two months before the end of 2024.

The House questioned the available time before the end of the year to thoroughly consider and pass the MTEF, Fiscal Strategy Paper and 2025 budget estimates, arguing that the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 provided for the prudent management of the nation’s resources and that Section 11(1)(b) stipulated that the Federal Government must, not later than four months before the commencement of the next financial year, cause to be prepared and laid before the National Assembly, an MTEF for the next three financial years.

The legislative body subsequently urged the Federal Government to immediately transmit the budget estimates and MTEF to enable it to scrutinise both documents in compliance with the January-December budget cycle.

In a telephone interview with The PUNCH, Mr Agbese said though the House wants the presidency to transmit the documents as soon as possible, he argued that what is important is the adequate review Nigerians expect from the parliament.

He said, “The reasoning of the parliament and that of Mr Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas is that it is not how quick and fast but the meticulous work done on the 2025 budget proposal.

“We are proud of the performances of the Ministers of Finance, Wale Edu and Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu. We are confident as a parliament that the MTEF will be in within a record time and Mr President will subsequently transmit the budget to the National Assembly for consideraction.