Federation Acct: Give 1% Share To NASENI, Senate Tells FG

BY BODE GBADEBO, Abuja

The Senate yesterday asked the Federal  Government to henceforth ensure a yearly remittance of 1% allocation from the Federation Account to the coffers of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) in compliance with the extant law establishing the agency.

The Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning made the call after the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna, made submissions on revenue generation and projections of the agency for the 2021 budget.

Prof. Haruna, who spoke during the 5-day interactive session on the 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP, which ended on Tuesday, lamented that the agency had never receive the statutory 1% remittance from the Federation Account as stipulated by the NASENI Act, 2004.

The law stipulates that NASENI shall draw from the Federation Account, 1% revenue accruing to the the Federal Treasury beginning from the year 2000 but the agency had not receive anything from the Federation Account contrary to the provisions of the law.

Surprised by the revelation, the Joint Senate Committee led by Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West), ordered the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris, who was also present at the session, to commence the disbursement of the 1% allocation from the Federation Account to NASENI from September this year.

“The Act setting up NASENI was the Act of the National Assembly and the Accountant-General of the Federation could not be allowed to flout the law.

“Therefore, since the AGF is here, please ensure that the executive starts implementation of the law from September this year because NASENI has potentials to develop and industrialise the Nigerian economy through the core mandates given to it by the extant law,” Adeola said.