Delta State House of Assembly Fund Management (financial Autonomy) Law, 2021

DELTA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY FUND MANAGEMENT (FINANCIAL AUTONOMY) LAW, 2021

1. Short Title. This Law may be cited as the Delta State House of Assembly Fund Management (Financial Autonomy) Law, 2021.

2. Interpretation. In this Law, unless the context otherwise requires: ?Accountant-General? means the Accountant-General of Delta State; ?Auditor-General? means the Auditor-General of Delta State; ?Clerk? means the Clerk of the Delta State House of Assembly; ?Committee? means the Funds Management Committee established under this Law; "Consolidated Revenue Fund" means the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Delta State; "Departmental Committee" means the Departmental Fund Management Committee established under this Law; "FAAC" means Federation Account Allocation Committee; "Government" means the Delta State Government; "Governor" means Governor of Delta State of Nigeria; "House" means the Delta State House of Assembly; "House Account" means the Statutory House Account of the Delta State House of Assembly established under this Law; "IGR" means Internally Generated Revenue; "Monetary Threshold" means the value limit in naira set by the Funds Management Committee for the Organs of the Assembly Service for the award of procurement contracts; "Organs'' includes the Funds Management Committee, Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission, Departmental Committee and any other relevant body created by the House; "Principal Officers" means Members who are Principal Officers of the House; "Revenue Shortfall" means a drop in revenue or funds released from the Federation Account to the State which is lower than budgeted funds as contained in the Appropriation Law for the year; "SAAC" means the State Account Allocation Committee; "Speaker" means the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly; "State" means Delta State of Nigeria.

3. Establishment and Composition of the Funds Management Committee. (1) There is established for the House a body to be known as the Funds Management Committee. (2) The Committee shall consist of: (a) the Speaker of the House who shall be the Chairman; (b) Principal Officers of the House; (c) the Clerk of the House who shall be the Secretary; (d) the Secretary to the House of Assembly Service Commission (where issues or matters that affect the Commission are discussed); and (e) Director Finance, Accounts and Procurement.

4. Functions of the Committee. The Committee shall: (a) consider the manner in which funds in the House Account are applied for the services and administration of the House; (b) submit quarterly reports in respect of paragraph (a) of this Section to the House; (c) set, approve and amend monetary threshold for the Organs of the House; and (d) approve and award all contracts, procurements and services above N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira).

5. Power to Co-opt. The Committee may co-opt any person to be a member at its meeting, but such person shall not be entitled to vote at the meeting of the Committee or any of its sub-committees or for the purpose of quorum.

6. Power to manage funds. (1) The House shall have the power to manage its capital and recurrent expenditure in accordance with the provisions of this Law. (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this Section, where the construction or major renovation of a building is to be undertaken, the Ministry of Works or Housing shall undertake the construction and supervision of the work; provided that all costs associated with such construction or supervision shall be charged to the vote of the House in the appropriate Budget Line Item.

7. The Accounting Officer of the House/duties of the Accounting Officer. (1) The Clerk of the House shall be the Accounting Officer of the House. (2) The Accounting Officer shall: (a) set up for the House adequate mechanism to enhance efficient management of funds; (b) establish and maintain an account to be known as the Delta State House of Assembly Statutory Account after due consultation with the Speaker and the Committee; (c) establish and maintain three sub accounts for the administration of the House to cater for: (i) the Legislators; (ii) the Staff/Management; and (iii) the House of Assembly Service Commission or any other Organ as may be created by the House pursuant to this Law. (d) maintain the House Account with such bank(s) in the State after due consultation with the Speaker and the Committee; (e) administer the House Account and apply the funds to the services and administration of the House in accordance with applicable financial regulations in the State; (f) maintain proper books of account and records in such form that shall conform to standard financial practice; and (g) be responsible for the preparation of quarterly financial statement of accounts which shall be submitted to the Auditor-General of the State.

8. Establishment of Departmental Funds Management Committee. (1) There shall be established a Departmental Committee to be known as the Departmental Funds Management Committee. (2) The Departmental Committee shall consist of: (a) Clerk of the House who shall be the Chairman; (b) Deputy Clerks; (c) Director Planning, Research and Statistics; (d) Director Finance, Accounts and Procurement; (e) Director Legal Services; (f) Director Audit; (g) Director of Administration; and (h) Deputy Director Procurement who shall be the Secretary. (3) The Departmental Committee shall perform functions relating to all contracts, works, services and procurements in the House up to the sum of Five Million Naira, subject to the ratification of the Speaker

9. Power to Invite. The Departmental Committee shall have the power to invite any person or group of persons to its meetings.

10. Quorum. The quorum of the Committee and Departmental Committee established under Sections 3 and 8 of this Law shall not be less than two-third of all the members of the Committee or the Departmental Committee.

11. Approval Limits of the Speaker and Clerk of the House. (1) The Speaker shall approve capital or recurrent expenditure up to the sum of N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira). (2) The Clerk shall approve capital or recurrent expenditure up to the sum of N500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) subject to the ratification of the Speaker.

12. Establishment and Functions of Due Process Unit. (1) There shall be established for the House a Due Process Unit. (2) The Due Process Unit shall: (a) prepare and update standard biding and contract documents; (b) prevent fraudulent and unfair procurement and where necessary, apply administrative sanctions; (c) ensure the attainment of competitiveness, transparency, cost effectiveness and professionalism in the House procurement system; (d) issue certificate of “NO OBEJECTION” for contract award within the threshold of approval under this Law; and (e) perform procurement audits and submit such report to the Clerk.

13. Preparation of Estimates. The Clerk shall on receipt of the Budget ceiling or envelope from the Commissioner for Economic Planning of the State and after due consultation with relevant organs and committees, prepare annual estimates of all income and expenditure for the services and administration of the House for the next financial year and such estimates shall be forwarded to the Governor for inclusion in the Appropriation Law or Supplementary Appropriation Law for that year.

14. Establishment of SAAC. (1) There is established for the State a body to be known as the State Account Allocation Committee (SAAC). (2) The membership of the SAAC shall comprise: (a) the Commissioner for Finance as Chairman; (b) the Accountant-General; (c) the Clerk of the House (d) the Chief Registrar of the State High Court; and (e) the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance or his representative who shall be the Secretary. (3) The State Account Allocation Committee shall be responsible for monthly allocation of funds to each arm of government from FAAC allocation and the State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). (4) The State Account Allocation Committee shall have the power to regulate its proceedings.

15. Duties of the SAAC. The SAAC shall perform the following duties: (a) oversee the distribution of available funds to the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary; (b) ensure the equitable distribution of the Statutory Allocations for the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary from the Federation Account based on the appropriations made to each of the three Arms of Government in the State Annual Budget; (c) workout appropriate budget releases for the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary on the basis of monthly revenue receipts, evaluations and the needs of each Arm and in relation to funds appropriated to them in the Appropriation Law; and

16. Meeting of SAAC. The SAAC shall hold its meetings at least once every month on a date and venue to be determined by the Chairman.

17. Duty to furnish State Revenue Performance. The Commissioner for Finance and Accountant-General shall on a monthly basis furnish the SAAC with the revenue performance of the State but in any case not later than seven (7) days after each meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

18. Payment into Statutory House Accounts/Duty on Accountant-General to ensure prompt release. (1) From the commencement of this Law and pursuant to the provisions of Section 121(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered) and Section 15 of this Law, the Governor shall by warrant issued under his hand authorise the Accountant-General to release directly into the House Statutory Accounts all monthly capital and recurrent expenditure due to the House as allocated by SAAC. (2) On receipt of the warrant issued by the Governor, the Accountant-General shall ensure that the funds as allocated by the SAAC are promptly released directly to the House Statutory Accounts.

19. Consequences of failure. Pursuant to Section 18 of this Law, failure or neglect by the Accountant-General to release the monthly monies due to the House, one week after it has become due shall amount to serious misconduct and dereliction of duty. The Accountant-General shall be liable to disciplinary action in accordance with the Civil Service Rules and the extant Laws of the State.

20. Audit. The accounts of the House shall be audited by the Auditor-General or any person authorized by him in that behalf.

21. Power to make Regulations. The Principal Officers of the House shall make general Regulations to give effect to the provisions of this Law.

22. Transitional/Savings. Notwithstanding Section 23 of this Law, any approval, contract, decision or action carried out under the Delta State House of Assembly Fund Management (Financial Autonomy) Law, 2018 shall not be invalidated by the repeal but shall have effect as if done under this Law.

23. Repeal of the Delta State House of Assembly Fund Management (Financial Autonomy) Law, 2018. The Delta State House of Assembly Fund Management (Financial Autonomy) Law, 2018 is hereby repealed.