The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has recommended the exclusion of the National Examinations Council (NECO), the University of Ibadan (UI), and 22 other ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) from the 2025 budget over their failure to account for funds allocated to them in 2024 and previous years.
The Committee Chairman, Bamidele Salam, revealed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday. He accused the affected agencies of repeatedly ignoring invitations to explain how they utilized past budgetary allocations, labeling their actions as a lack of financial discipline.
“The Public Accounts Committee, as a constitutional committee of the House, has a mandate to ensure accountability, probity, and efficiency in the use of resources allocated to ministries, departments, and agencies,” Salam said.
He noted that several agencies have become “recalcitrant,” refusing to honor multiple summons to render accounts of funds appropriated to them for budgets dating back to 2020, 2021, and 2022.
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Salam cited NECO as a prominent offender:
“NECO has been given invitations up to five times by the Public Accounts Committee. They have neither responded to any of those invitations nor physically attended any of the summons. Same with every other agency, 24 of them listed in that resolution.”
The chairman explained that under the Financial Regulations 2009 and other accountability laws, any agency that fails to account for appropriated funds or honor invitations from the National Assembly can be excluded from future funding.
“One of the appropriate measures as stipulated by our regulations is to stop further funding for them,” Salam emphasized.
The committee’s recommendation aims to enforce financial accountability across federal institutions and ensure judicious use of public resources.
The 24 listed agencies, including NECO and UI, now face the possibility of being excluded from the 2025 budget unless they comply with the House’s demand for transparency and accountability.
