{"id":125595,"date":"2026-02-13T07:49:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=125595"},"modified":"2026-02-13T07:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:49:35","slug":"senate-tackle-agf-over-zero-capital-votes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/senate-tackle-agf-over-zero-capital-votes\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Tackle AGF Over Zero Capital Votes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Shamsedeen Ogunjimi, came under intense fire on Thursday as the Senate Committee on Finance grilled his office over the absence of capital allocations to several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), rising unpaid contractual obligations, and growing concerns surrounding the Federal Government\u2019s Centralised Payment System.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The confrontation unfolded during the AGF\u2019s budget defence session, where senators expressed anger over what they described as poor fund releases, weak implementation of approved budgets, and a payment framework increasingly viewed as ineffective.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Opening the session, Committee Chairman Senator Sani Musa (Niger East) told the AGF that relations between his office and the committee had been strained and must improve for the sake of national progress.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe are not going to take your budget until we are satisfied that your office is ready to do things that will make the system work for Nigerians,\u201d Musa stated firmly.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He singled out the continued use of envelope budgeting as a major weakness in fiscal planning, noting that it has failed to deliver tangible results over the years.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cOne of the issues that must be urgently resolved is the envelope budgeting system being used yearly without producing desired outcomes. We may need to consider alternatives such as a performance-based model,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Gombe State governor and senator representing Gombe Central, Danjuma Goje, described the situation as troubling and unprecedented, revealing that contractors now frequently seek legislative intervention over unpaid jobs.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cHere at the National Assembly, we have never seen contractors bombarding us weekly for intervention on non-payment of executed contracts,\u201d Goje lamented.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He questioned the government\u2019s financial position following the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe impression given to Nigerians is that with subsidy removal and forex reforms, more revenue is available. Where is the money now? Why are contractors owed? And why was there zero allocation for capital votes of most MDAs in 2025?\u201d he asked.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Senator Muntari Dandutse representing Katsina South cited reports indicating that revenue-generating agencies had realised about \u20a628 trillion, yet capital spending remained stagnant.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIf \u20a628 trillion was generated, what happened to the money?\u201d he queried.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dandutse also criticised the Centralised Payment System, alleging that it had been compromised and was undermining government accountability.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cEven the introduced Centralised Payment System is not helping matters at all. The system is very compromised and seriously affecting the integrity of government,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several other lawmakers cautioned the AGF about possible internal sabotage as they urged him to strengthen fiscal discipline.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his response, Dr. Ogunjimi blamed much of the problem on MDAs awarding contracts without securing confirmed funding, a practice he said prompted a directive banning such actions.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cYes, as the Accountant-General of the Federation, my office is expected to disburse funds to relevant agencies at the appropriate time, but that can only be done if the funds are available,\u201d he explained.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI must have the funds before I can disburse.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He further reminded the committee that the Federal Government had discontinued the use of the Central Bank\u2019s \u201cWays and Means\u201d financing in order to stabilise the economy.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While admitting that the Centralised Payment System initially faced operational hurdles, the AGF assured lawmakers that steps were being taken to correct the shortcomings and improve efficiency.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The committee later moved into a closed-door session with the AGF for deeper deliberations on the fiscal challenges raised.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Shamsedeen Ogunjimi, came under intense fire on Thursday as the Senate Committee on Finance grilled his office over the absence&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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