Banking on Revenue Yielding Agencies

As the first quarter of 2021 beckons, all eyes are on the performances of the various revenue-generating agencies in the country amid the inevitability of an increase in government spending at a period when productive capacity is limited by security threats and the possible distraction from the impending uptick in the political activities, writes Festus Akanbi

Last week, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan declared that the revenue-generating agencies of the federal government are capable of generating and remitting N3 trillion annually to the coffers of the government if efforts are made to cut down on wasteful spending.

Speaking at an interactive session on “the need to improve internally generated revenue of the Federal Government of Nigeria and Revenue Projections of the Agencies as Contained in the Appropriation Act 2022,” in Abuja, Lawan said one way of doing this is by being rigid on increased revenue to cut down on the country’s budget deficit and borrowings, as well as prevent wasteful expenditures by agencies of government.

He said, “In 2022, the National Assembly assumed and rightly so, that our government-owned enterprises can generate up to N3 trillion if we are of the mindset that we can achieve that and, of course, ensure that we oversight to stall any possibility of unwarranted expenditures by agencies of government.

Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, in his intervention, lamented that there were insufficient funds for the implementation of policies and projects captured in the 2022 budget of the federal government.

According to the lawmaker, “there is an urgent need for all hands to be on deck on revenue generation for the government, as well as prevent misuse and leakages of such revenue for frivolous purposes not sanctioned by the laws of the National Assembly.”

A Dicey Situation

Apart from the picture of uncertainty over the nation’s revenue painted by the Senate hierarchy, economic analysts argue that the present administration has taken some decisions which are bound to put pressure on the economy this year. One of such politically-motivated decisions is the recent suspension of the implementation of the much-desired subsidy on petrol.

One of such, according to them, is the urgent need to cough out an extra N3trillion to cover subsidy on petrol between July and December this year, since it was not taken care of in the 2022 budget.

The hope is that some of the revenue-generating agencies in the country should be able to rise to the occasion by raising the bar of their performances to generate good revenues for the government’s activities this year.

The list of these revenue-yielding agencies includes the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Nigeria Ports Authorities, (NPA), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC), Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

NNPC

On its part, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) remitted a sum of N10.54 billion to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in November 2021 from the proceeds of the sales of crude oil and gas in the previous month.

In its audited report for 2020, the corporation’s group revenue stood at N3.718trillion as against N4.634trillion in 2019, a decrease that was attributed to the decline in the production and price of crude oil due to the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

FIRS

The FIRS, in the year 2021 collected a total of N6.405 trillion in both oil (N2.008 trillion) and non-oil (N4.396 trillion) revenues as against a target of N6.401 trillion.

In 2020, it collected N4.9 trillion.

A statement by the organisation said that for its 2021 operations, “Companies Income Tax amounted to N1.896 trillion; Petroleum Profits Tax amounted to N2 trillion; Value Added Tax amounted to N2.07 trillion; Electronic Money Transfer Levy amounted to N114 billion; Earmarked Taxes amounted to N208.8 billion; among others. “Non-oil sector contributed 69 per cent of the total collection in the year, while oil sector’s contribution was 31 per cent of the total collection.

NPA

Although the total revenue collected for 2021 has not been made available, reports have it that the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) remitted a cumulative sum of over N89.9 billion into the country’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) within six months in 2021 just as it also remitted the sum of N62.66 billion to the same account for the year 2021 as at October 31, totalling N152.56 billion in compliance with the quarterly remittance of its operating surplus to the account and provisions of the Finance Act 2020. It generated N350.37billion in 2020.

Customs

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it generated N2.23 trillion revenue in 2021.

Its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Joseph Attah, who was quoted in a widely circulated report said the amount exceeded the year’s target of N1.67 trillion.

The NCS said: “Nigeria Customs Service generated the sum of N2,240,880,308,195.77 for the year 2021. The service generated N1.6 trillion in 2020.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Finance has rejected the N1.33 trillion projected revenue by the Nigerian Customs Service the 2022 financial year.

FAAN

The 2021 revenue figure for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was not available by the time this paper was going to bed, but it is on record that FAAN generated N30billion as revenue between January and September 2020.

The standing arrangement is that FAAN is expected to remit 25 per cent of its revenue to the government coffers but industry sources said the agency has not been able to meet the target over the years. Incidentally, FAAN is seeking a suspension of its 25 per cent revenue contribution to the federation account to address infrastructure gaps.

Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) now the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURPC) claimed it was able to hit the N3.2 trillion revenue target by December 2021, whereas it declared it remitted N2 trillion naira to the federal government in 2020. This was disclosed by the DPR Director/Chief Executive, Mr Sarki Auwalu in Abuja when he led a delegation of the DPR management team to the Executive Secretary of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Mr Bello Gusau, in Abuja recently.

JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) remitted N3.51 billion to the federal government as an operating surplus for 2021. In 2020, it remitted N3.5 billion.

A statement issued by the examination body and signed by its head of public affairs and protocol unit, Fabian Benjamin, noted that the remittance “is in line with Prof. Is-haq Oloyede’s avowed commitment to prudent management of public resources.”

JAMB began the impressive revenue drive in 2016 when the new leadership of the examination body remitted N7billion and repeated the same in subsequent years.

NAFDAC

For years, the National Assembly has been at loggerheads with some federal government agencies over their failure to remit revenues and unspent funds to shore up government revenues, reduce budget deficits and borrowings.

One of such agencies is the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control, (NAFDAC).

The NAFDAC’s DG, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye had earlier disclosed before a Senate committee that she inherited over N3bn liabilities on the assumption of office.

EFCC

The total recovery declared by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for 2021 was N152billion and $386million. These covered January to December 2021.

The commission’s image-maker Wilson Uwujaren, who disclosed this in a statement, said the figures were arrived at following a review of the operational activities for 2021.

The commission also disclosed that it recovered about £1.182 million, €156,000 1,723 million Saudi riyals, 1,400 Canadian dollars and 1,900 South African rands, last year.

In addition, the recovery also included a digital currency component with 5,36957319 Bitcoin and 0.09012 Ethereum.

NIMASA

In 2021, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) remitted a total of N37.69 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

Accordingly, NIMASA remitted N37,691,630,450.22 to the CRF account in 2021, representing an increase of N5.852 billion when compared to the N31,839,917,978.20 remitted in 2020.

NCC

Details of the total revenue remitted to the federal government’s covers by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) was not available as of last week. THISDAY however gathered that the Commission exceeded its N36 billion projected revenue from spectrum license fees for 2021, after recording over N150billion revenue in the first five months of the same year.

The figure represented an over 400 per cent increase in revenue budget performance in respect of spectrum fees generated by the commission between January 1 and May 31, 2021.