In a bold move to boost higher revenue and accountability in key revenue generating Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Federal Government has approved the posting of treasury officers to these agencies where they will be designated as Directors of Revenues and Investment Departments. The move signals a major shift in revenue generation and management of resources of these agencies to ensure transparency and accountability.
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We applaud this bold step, which was revealed by the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris, when he hosted the President and Council members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Abuja. According to the Accountant General, the measure is part of the ongoing restructuring of the functions of MDAs, which is aimed at ensuring that treasury officers are assigned to various key revenue generating agencies.
The affected MDAs include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and others. Their mandate includes, among others, to drive government reforms in public sector in line with the present administration’s effort to diversify sources of revenue.
It is heartening that the government is not unmindful of the huge leakages, and under-remittance of revenues by these agencies. Therefore, any policy that will ensure that the treasury staff will be diligent and transparent in their duties is welcome. They must ensure that these agencies do not short-change the government in remitting revenues to the Federation Account as provided in Section 162(1) of the Constitution. It is good that the government has stated that their tenure as treasury heads of these agencies will be performance-based in line with their revenue targets. This means that any of them found to have compromised his position must be severely punished.
There is no doubt that the development of the country is made possible when there is sustained growth and accountability in government’s revenue generation. Unfortunately, the resources of government have been on the downward slope in recent times, owing to over-dependence on oil receipts and monumental fraud in many of the key revenue generating agencies, as evident in recent audit reports of their financial operations.
For instance, the recent report of the Auditor General of the Federation that scrutinized accounts of the MDAs showed huge corruption and mismanagement of funds during the first year in office of the present administration. The report revealed that “deficiencies were noted in the process of consolidating the balances of Ministries, Departments and Agencies into one economic entity”. The report added that the “consolidation boundary of the Federal Government’s Financial Statements was not adequately defined, and the justification of the exclusion of several significant balances was uncertain”.
The report indicted the opaque financial balance sheets of some of the MDAs. Also, a recent report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) revealed huge under remittance in revenue to the federation account by some of these agencies. Also, the report of the Attorney General of the Federation disclosed that the NNPC failed to remit N4.07trn to the Federation Account. The National Economic Council (NEC) had in May 2018 directed the NNPC and other agencies to refund unremitted revenues totaling N8trn and another N526bn into the Federation Account. The Council resolved to pursue measures that would strengthen NNPC’s governance structure to prevent underremittance by the agency.
It appears the approval of treasury officers to the MDAs is one the measures envisaged by government to curb the lack of accountability under-remittance of revenues to the Federation Account. It is not in dispute that little accountability exists in most MDAs in the country. It is in this regard that the treasury officers should see their assignment as a national duty to restructure the functions of the key revenue agencies and restore public confidence in them.