The Senate Committee on Finance has directed the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) to reconcile discrepancies surrounding deductions from NAFDAC’s operating surplus, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen accountability in public finance management.
The directive was issued on Wednesday during an investigative hearing on the remittance of internally generated revenue and operating surplus by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) into the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the 2023 to 2025 financial years.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Sani Musa, said the reconciliation became necessary after conflicting figures emerged between NAFDAC and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission regarding deductions made from the agency’s revenue.
During the hearing, NAFDAC disclosed that it generated ₦18.73 billion in 2023, ₦29.85 billion in 2024 and ₦39.6 billion in 2025, reflecting a steady increase in internally generated revenue over the period.
NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, told lawmakers that the agency had remitted about ₦3.9 billion as operating surplus between 2007 and 2023 but encountered financial challenges following the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) zero-balance policy in January 2024.
According to Adeyeye, approximately ₦21 billion deducted directly from payments made by clients for regulatory services had yet to be fully refunded, despite presidential approval for the reimbursement.
She revealed that only ₦13 billion of the amount had so far been returned, adding that President Bola Tinubu approved both the refund and NAFDAC’s removal from the list of revenue-generating agencies in August 2025, although the approvals are yet to be fully implemented.
Responding, Senator Musa advised the agency to formally submit the presidential approval to the committee to facilitate necessary legislative action.
The committee subsequently directed the Accountant-General’s Office to nominate a senior official to work alongside NAFDAC and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to reconcile the agency’s accounts and resolve outstanding discrepancies.
Lawmakers also turned their attention to the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority after the Fiscal Responsibility Commission reported that the agency had failed to submit audited financial statements since 2022 and still had unresolved financial liabilities.
The Acting Managing Director of the authority, Mr Ayo Oyano, informed the committee that the agency generated ₦72.755 million in 2023 and remitted ₦18.188 million, representing 25 per cent of the revenue.
However, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission maintained that as a fully funded Federal Government agency, the authority was required by law to remit 100 per cent of its internally generated revenue into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The commission further disclosed that the authority had not submitted audited financial statements for 2023, 2024 and 2025 and still had an outstanding liability of ₦71.5 million dating back to 2022.
Senator Musa reminded the agency that its personnel, overhead and capital expenditures were already funded through annual appropriations and therefore it had no legal basis for retaining any portion of its internally generated revenue.
Following deliberations, the committee directed the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority to reconcile its accounts with the Accountant-General’s Office and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission within 14 days.
The committee warned that failure to comply with the directive could attract sanctions, including the suspension of budget releases.
Musa said the investigation was aimed at strengthening transparency, accountability and compliance with statutory revenue remittance obligations across federal agencies, stressing that the Senate would continue to exercise its oversight responsibilities to safeguard public funds.
