— DMO says Nigeria must rise to the challenge of revenue generation
Abuja, Nigeria – Mediaage NG News -With the aim of putting an end to revenue-generating government establishment spending funds without appropriation, the Senate Joint Committee on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy Paper, chaired by Senator Sani Musa, on Monday in Abuja, asked for details of revenue remittances from government Ministries, Agencies and Departments.
Senator Musa, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, directed the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, to collate details of revenues generated, and remittances made to the federation account, as well as compile a list of defaulting MDAs.
Since last week, the joint committee have been listening to heads of federal ministries, departments and agencies on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF-FSP).
The Joint Committee consist of the Committees on Finance, Appropriations, National Planning and Economic Affairs; Local and Foreign Debts.
At the commencement of the day’s hearing, Senator Musa said the National Assembly is working hard to protect the economy of the country.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for instance, is a Nigerian entity it must abide by the Nigerian rules, it must abide by the ground norms. When it is due to remit, it must do so, he said.
“No agency of the government should come before us to say they are exempted from remitting revenues to the consolidated revenue funds.
“The Accountant General should take note of the agencies that had yet to remit their revenues to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
“You should liaise with the Committee’s secretariat so that we can find time to reconvene like this to sort out those issues.”
Musa spoke after listening to presentations by the Nigerian Institute of Legal and Advanced Studies and the Nigerian Maritime Academy on delayed remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Account as required by law.
While insisting that the MDAs present a breakdown of their revenue collection and remittances from January to date to assist the committee in accomplishing its task, he noted that MDAs were aware that any action in breach of financial regulations was a breach of the law.
“Agencies must work toward remitting the revenue due to the government upon collection without delay”, he added.
The Director-General of Debt Management Office, (DMO) Mrs. Patience Oniha, while appearing before the Senate Joint Committee, said Nigeria needs to challenge itself on revenue generation, given its projection on debt services. She revealed this while responding to a question from the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Sani Musa, on the new government loan request.”
Under this she said it is imperative to highlight the nation’s public debt data and said the country’s total public debt currently stands at N87.38 trillion, as at June 30, 2023. This figure Mrs. Oniha said, also captures the highly publicized FGN N22.7 trillion Ways and Means Advances by the CBN which was securitized in May 2023, based on the approval of the National Assembly.
While the 2023 Annual and Supplementary Budget for the FGN, as approved by the National Assembly is N22.6 trillion, she said the proposed 2024 Budget is currently at N26 trillion with an allocation of N6.87trillion in the proposed Budget for capital projects.
The DMO boss explained further that the budget deficit, although lower in the 2024 proposed Budget, compared to the 2023 Budget, may further decrease if there is a continuous increase in revenues. “Lower budget deficits in the Annual Budgets will therefore reduce the need for borrowing, thereby mitigating the burden of high debt service costs”, she disclosed.
Among the MDAs that made presentations on their revenue projections for the 2024-2026 MTEF and FSP were : the Office of Accountant General of the Federation, (OAGF), Nigeria Maritime Academy, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
Others include National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), amongst others.
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) Joint Matriculation and Examination Board (JAMB) and the Federal Mortgage Bank were asked to appear at another day for re- presentation of their expenditure and revenue projections.