The Fiscal Responsibility Commission has disclosed that most ministries, departments and agencies of government failed to remit about N1.2 trillion to to the Consolidated Revenue Funds of the Federal Government as required by law and fiscal regulations.
The Acting Chairman of the commission, Barrister Victor Muruako, who gave this hint on Monday, explained that the unremitted amount could fund part of this year’s budget and thereby reduce the budget deficit in the fiscal year.
Muruako, who decried the worrisome trend, called for the stricter enforcement of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 to plug leakages in the public finance system and halt the trend of national and sub-national governments’ borrowing for the purpose of governance.
The FRC boss made these disclosures at the opening session of a three-day management retreat for employees of the commission in Abuja.
He explained: “Today, our records still show that most of the 122 agencies of government are in default of more than N1.2 trillion which can fund a substantial portion of the Federal Government of Nigeria budget deficit if remitted in line with FRA 2007.
“These sums are calculated from already submitted end of year audited accounts of the defaulting agencies, which means the monies can be traced and recovered”, Muruako maintained.
He restated the insistence of the commission that if the government could implement the commission’s recommendations of bringing more government-owned corporations in the Schedule of the FRA 2007, there would be no need for government to borrow to fund the budget.
The FRC is responsible for mobilising funds from government owned-entities through the payment of operating surplus to finance government’s budget, amongst other fiscal functions.
