Reps pass N140.383b NCC budget

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a 2020 budget
of N140.383 billion for the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC).
It also adopting the Conference report on the Finance bill.

This followed the submission of the report of the House
Committee on Telecommunication led by Hon. Akeem Adeyemi Adeniyi
for the consideration of the House.

The House also approved about N11.594 billion as 2020 budget for
the Universal Service Provision Fund, which is an independent arm
of the NCC.

Out of the money, N39.297.043 is for Recurrent Expenditure,
while Capital Expenditure will gulp N8,129,461.

The sum of N20,863,690 is budgeted for Special Projects while
N64,208,446 will be transferred to the Federal Government of
Nigeria.

Also, the NCC is to transfer the sum of N7,500,000 to Universal
Service Provision Fund (USPF) during the period, with a surplus of
N384, 949.

However, attempt by the Chairman of the House Committee on
Finance to cause the House to transfer the surplus to the
Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation was rejected by the
House.

The Deputy Speaker, Hon Ahmed Idris Wase, who presided over the
session, said the surplus cannot be merged with the funds to be
transferred to the government coffers because it was just an
estimate which may or may not be realised.

Also presenting the report of the Conference Committee on the
Finance bill, Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon.
James Faleke, said the House version of the bill was adopted by
conference committee.

Faleke said after the passage of the finance bill by both
chambers, there were some areas of differences which necessitated a
conference committee to harmonise the bill.

He said “the meeting of the conference committee took place
yesterday and I want to report that the version passed by the House
was adopted.”

The House unanimously approved the report as presented and the
bill will now be sent to the President for ascent.

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