FG Recovers N1.44bn from Unremitted Operating Surpluses, Renames YouWin

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The federal government has announced the recovery of N1.44 billion from the N450 billion operating surpluses that some revenue generating agencies reportedly failed to remit into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) between 2010 and 2015.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, penultimate week disclosed that 17 defaulting agencies, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had been summoned for a meeting with a committee set up to recover the revenue and headed by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.

The meeting, according to her, was to avail the agencies the opportunity to present proposals on how and when to repay the funds.

A statement issued by the Finance Ministry yesterday, said an additional N793 million had been recovered from three federal government agencies by the Idris-led recovery committee.

The Nigeria Shippers Council had earlier refunded N650 million.

Further recoveries totalling N793 million were said to have been made from the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), N278 million; Nigeria Shippers Council, N407 million; and Nigeria Export Promotion Council, N108 million.

According to the statement, “So far, the cumulative total amount recovered is N1.44 billion, given the earlier recovery of N650 million from the Nigeria Shippers Council, even as several other agencies are in the process of submitting repayment plans for approval.”

Four agencies which were unable to make it to the meeting due to the short notice have been rescheduled to appear before the recovery committee, the statement said.

They include the CBN, National Pensions Commission (PenCom), Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Revenue generating agencies are required to pay their operating surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federal government not later than one month following the statutory deadline for the publication of their accounts, as provided under Section 22(2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission Act.

Also, the federal government said it has enhanced and restructured the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin) programme into a multimedia-based programme and re-launched it as YouWinConnect!

According to the Ministry of Finance, the new programme, which is an offshoot of YouWin initiated by the previous administration, is coming with a sharper focus on supporting young entrepreneurs with fresh business management ideas for sustainability.