The Federal Government has deployed 10 revenue supervisors to monitor the books of revenue-generating agencies in a concrete measure to curtail sharp practices in the accruals from some of the establishments into the Federation Account.
The supervisors were deployed to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and six other government-owned entities to monitor their books and ascertain that what they generated are remitted to the treasury.
Other federal government entities including Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety AgencY (NIMASA) are also to open their books to the directors of revenue.
Specifically, the 10 supervisors will be involved in the revenue operations of the agencies for a better understanding of their business processes and operations so as to improve transparency and accountability in revenue reporting by these entities.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Orientation, Zainab Ahmed, confirmed this Tuesday at a three-day orientation programme organised by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation for treasury directors stating the discharge of these duties will be aided with the deployment of Information Technology.
The minister had earlier in the year at Kano State during the 2020 Management Retreat organised by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) for Treasury Directors of Finance and Accounts and Directors of Internal Audit announced the decision which pilot phase with few Revenue Agencies commenced Tuesday.
This step by the federal government came three weeks after a Senate joint committee led by Solomon Adeola Olamilekan met with revenue-generating agencies in the country. The lawmakers from the red chambers were looking at ways to free more resources for the federal treasury from the agencies which are allegedly spending what they generated as they pleased.
Part of the findings, InsideBusiness was told, has sparked a decision by the Senate to amend the Fiscal Responsibility Commission Act to curtail the excesses of the agencies.
The government, with this development, aims to achieve transparency and accountability of government revenue, improve revenue performance, and provide a sustainable source of funding for budget execution.
Ahmed said, “It is a fact that oil revenue is an exogenous variable to us and is highly volatile. Continuous reliance on it would mean that our public expenditures will always be dwindled by the shock in the Global Oil market Price which is not within our control.
“One of the possible solutions is to look into the non-oil revenues, take advantage of the potentials, and make it robust. We have seen the results on the increase in VAT through the Finance Act 2019 and efforts in diversifying the revenue base of Government by the Revenue generating agencies.
“An important sector with huge potentials is the revenue generation by the Federal Government Owned Entities.”
“The Integrated Revenue Monitoring System is being put in place to help the monitoring of the revenues of the FGOEs online real-time and to ensure its improved transparency and accountability,” she noted.
Also speaking at the orientation programme, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, urged the government-owned entities to cooperate with the treasury officers in order to achieve the noble objective of the government.
Mustapha said, “The Special Orientation Programme organized for Directors of Finance and Accounts could not have come at a better time than now.
“The directors of revenue are to be regarded as partners in progress and be allowed unfettered access to relevant information and records. Thus they can support the enterprise to generate maximum revenue,” he said.
He urged the directors to take the assignment and training with all seriousness as, according to him, the government will expect a report at the end of the exercise to enable it to mainstream some of the decisions reached into policies of Government.
The Accountant General of the Federation, Idris Ahmed, said a technical committee was formed to ensure the seamless implementation of the approval on the deployment of revenue directors to FGOEs
“The Committee had worked hard and recommended fifty Treasury officers at Directorate level across various MDAs for this program and ten will be deployed to the selected FGOEs.
“The Directors selected have to demonstrate the highest level of professionalism and integrity in the discharge of this onerous task, consistent with the highest standard of service delivery.
“I urge the participants to be guided strictly by official working documents issued by the Treasury,” he added.
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