The House of Representatives’ Committee on Capital Market, led by Tajudeen Yusuf, was shocked to discover that the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) presented same copy of its 2015 budget in 2016.

This discovery put on hold the budget defence session of the agency.

Yusuf said: “We expected this yesterday to take the budget defence of the IST but we realised that the budget for IST in the 2016 budget proposal is just an exact copy of its 2015 appropriation. It is word for word, figure for figure. And Items dealt with and completed in 2015 were repeated.

“We looked into the budget about two weeks ago and, apart from the issue of personnel that the agency treated late in 2015, the 2015 budget for IST was okay.”

IST Chairman Ngozi Chianakwalam refused to speak with reporters on the issue.

The Senate, House of Representatives and the Ministry of Finance are to meet to straighten the inconsistencies in the 2016 budget proposal, the chairman said.

Also, at the same committee yesterday, the MD/CEO of Nigeria Commodities Exchange, Baba-Ari Zaheera, appealed to the committee to assist in an enabling law to make the agency more effective.

The NCE boss said the passage of the bill on Warehouse Receipt System (e-WRS) would make the Exchange more relevant in the country. (The Nation)

•Photo shows House Capital Market Committee Chairman, Hon. Tajudeen Yusuf.