Muruako: FG May Lose over N1tn Due to Non-Remittance by Revenue Agencies

James Emejo in Abuja

The acting Chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Mr. Victor Muruako, has said the federal government may be losing over N1 trillion due to the non-remittance of operating surplus.

He said agencies have perfected their art of defrauding the country through deliberate wrong computations, express diversion of funds, application of wrong accounting standards and non-inclusive listing of all government corporations under the FRA, 2007.

However, he disclosed that on its part, the commission had so far caused over N360 billion to be remitted into the consolidated revenue fund (CRF).

Speaking in Abuja when he led the management of the Commission on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Budget & National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, Muruako said, the Commission was already partnering with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to ensure strict implementation of government policies and revenue drive.

He said the commission was ready to do more particularly with the falling oil revenue and the apparent need to diversify government revenue base, noting that it had come up with a new template for determining operating surplus to ensure proper remittance of revenue.

This, he said, would be launched in due course.

“The Commission is poised and ready to partner with your ministry to engage government agencies who hide under various excuses to shortchange the Federal Government,” he said.

He, however, appealed to the Federal Government to set the overall debt limit for the amounts of consolidated debt of the Federal Government in compliance with section 42 of the FRA, 2007.

This, according to him, would enhance the commission’s efforts in effectively monitoring borrowings by all tiers of government particularly the State Governments, he stated in a statement by FRC, Head, Press Unit, Abdulganiyu Aminu.

On Medium Term Expenditure Framework, (MTEF), the acting FRC boss called for its timely submission so as to ensure that budgets are presented early in order to check the challenges associated with the 2016 budget.

However, Udoma commended the efforts of the Commission in recovering operating surplus from the MDAs, adding that FRC’s stance on prudence and accountability was in line with the Federal Governments zero tolerance for corruption and wastage in public finance.