Federal government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that fail to implement or respond to resolutions of the Senate risk the withholding of their budgetary allocations following a resolution passed by lawmakers on Wednesday.
Adopting the report of its Committee on Legislative Compliance detailing the implementation of resolutions arising from motions passed between July 2023 and December 2025, the committee’s chairman, Garba Maidoki, said members found that many government agencies had consistently ignored legislative directives despite repeated engagements.
Maidoki said the committee monitored compliance with resolutions relating to road rehabilitation, disaster management, and other matters of public interest but found that implementation was largely poor.
He informed his colleagues that many MDAs had failed to respond to requests for updates on the status of implementation, describing the development as a disregard for the authority of the Senate.
“Implementation of Senate resolutions is often delayed and sometimes ignored. The executive retains the final authority to issue directives for the implementation of Senate resolutions.
“Many MDAs ignore the committee’s requests for compliance information, thereby disregarding the powers of the committee and the Senate in general.
“Some MDAs failed to implement Senate resolutions, especially in cases of road rehabilitation and disaster management, due to the non-inclusion of funds in the budget for project execution,” he said.
Among the unresolved cases highlighted by the committee was the Senate’s resolution directing the federal government to compensate the family of two-year-old Eromonsele Omhonria, who was killed during an NDLEA operation in Asaba, Delta State, in July 2023.
The Senate had earlier approved a recommendation that the family be paid N200 million in compensation and directed the NDLEA to take responsibility for the child’s medical treatment abroad.
However, Maidoki disclosed that the resolution remains unimplemented.
“The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is yet to address the medical treatment of the child shot in the eye by its officer due to its inability to access funds from the confiscated and forfeited properties account to facilitate treatment abroad,” he said.
The committee also cited the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) for failing to comply with the Senate’s resolution directing the reinstatement of its former employee, Engr. Paddy Ukpe.
He further observed that some implementation challenges stemmed from motions that were not thoroughly investigated before being sponsored, while in other cases agencies directed to act lacked the statutory powers to do so.
To strengthen legislative oversight, the committee recommended that MDAs that fail to implement Senate resolutions or respond to its directives should be sanctioned through the withholding of their budgetary allocations and other measures.
The affected agencies include the Ministries of Works, Health, Power, Petroleum Resources, Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Information, Environment and Solid Minerals Development, as well as the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), the Ecological Fund Office, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio commended the committee for what he described as a comprehensive report before the Senate adopted it by a voice vote.
(The Sun)
