The House of Representatives on Wednesday told the Federal Ministry of Finance and the accountant general of the federation (AGF) to desist from dictating the amount of operating surplus to be paid by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) into the consolidated revenue fund (CRF). It said it will now track unpaid revenues by government agencies.
Some of the defaulting MDAs which failed to remit their operating surpluses to the consolidated revenue fund, according to the lawmakers, are Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Asset Management Corporation (AMCON), among others.
To this extent, Abdulmumin Jibrin, chairman, House Committee on Finance, issued a seven-day ultimatum to Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) to forward the list of all defaulting ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that failed to remit their operating surpluses worth several billions of naira to the consolidated revenue fund as stipulated by the extant laws.
Jibrin, who issued the directive during an oversight function to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, urged the commission which has the statutory function of determining the actual operating surplus to be remitted to the CRF, to submit its weekly report to the committee.
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The lawmaker, who expressed concern over the decline in the international price of crude oil, stressed the need for the commission to demonstrate sufficient will-power to discharge its statutory functions without fear or favour.
He said, “Now, all the challenges that we are facing in the country is because of the leakages we have in our revenue, otherwise, I keep saying if we look inwards in the country, we have enough resources, we have a lot of money in the system. And so, when you’re not equipping the agency that has the responsibility to serve as a watchdog to this process, I don’t think you’re doing much good to the country.
“I have said to you severally, an agency that fails to comply with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, send their names to the committee of finance and see what we’re going to do. We are giving you one week latest to send to us the names of all the agencies that are not up to date with their payment or other requirement.
“The accountant-general of the federation and the Ministry of Finance do not have the power to tell any agency what to pay into government coffers. The law is clear on it. The Fiscal Responsibility Commission is the agency that determines what agencies pay.
“You are mentioning NCC and others, what about the NNPC which is the biggest culprit in this conspiracy against the country? AMCON, NIMASA have all been on our radar for so many years, they claimed to be operating at a loss. The rate of non-remittances from the NNPC alone is ridiculous.
“As for AMCON and NIMASA they have been claiming to run at a loss year-in year-out, but now that AMCON is making profits from the sale of banks and other businesses, you should follow them up and ask for their financial statement and record of their remittances.
“One other notorious agency which puts up a holier-than-thou attitude but with a very hazy fiscal behaviour is the Financial Reporting Council. They are doing the job that the commission should be doing. Their activities are supposed to be under the radar of the commission. The committee has received hundreds of petitions concerning the malfeasance that is going on there. Go after them and make sure that they know their boundaries”, he said.
