IGR: Reps, Budget Office Raise Alarm Over Refusal Of MDA's To Remit Funds
ABUJA, Feb 03, (THEWILL) - THE House of Representatives and the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) today raised alarm over the violation of the constitution by some ministries, departments, and agencies of government by failing to remit accrued revenue to the federation account.
About 32 federal agencies and parastatals including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) are said to expend their internally generated revenue (IGR) without remitting same to the Federation Account as well as the approval of the National Assembly.
Consequently, the House has directed all government agencies and corporations to remit all accrued internally generated revenue to the federal government.
Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon John Enoh who disclosed this today at a meeting with MDA's said not less than an estimated N125 billion operational surplus is expected from government agencies and corporations as revenue framework for the 2011 fiscal year from agencies and corporations listed in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
Enoh warned MDAs that still harp on the constitutional provision that allowed them to generate and spend their money without remitting part of such revenue into government’s account, adding that the committee would beam its light on their financial activities.
“Some of you still draw our attention to the law that allows you to generate your money and spend. That law is against the constitution,” he said.
Enoh said that the committee would formulate another strategy for oversight if it fails to make any headway with the present system.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Budget Office, Dr Bright Okogwu, has also warned MDAs to desist from unnecessary expenditure in order to remit funds into the federation account.
“Don’t raise your expenditure simply because you want to spend the revenue generated,’’ he said.
“Even if you are a small agency, whatever you remit as surplus based on this principle, it means that the laws of the land must have been respected, which we are pushing for. We are trying to see that lines of expenditures that are not supposed to be made are not made,” he noted.
Okogwu also said that there was need for agencies of government to be frugal in their spending, adding that government would soon come up with a draft bill that would clearly spell out guidelines on how MDAs spend revenue generated.
“We do not say that you should not spend money to improve your services, but do it with the mind that government will need some,” he said.