The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission said it recovered N704.2 billion from revenue generating agencies that had shortchanged the government from 2010 to 2015.
The Chairman, RMAFC, Elias Mbam, announced this in Abuja at a news conference to mark the end of his five-year tenure at the commission.
Mbam said the monies were recovered mainly in the course of monitoring the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Federal Inland Revenue Services, Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Customs Service.
He said there was a lot still to be done to address revenue leakages, especially through the activities of revenue collecting agencies and their banks.
He said: “The commission embarked on monitoring and reconciliation of collections and remittances by the collecting banks engaged by the FIRS and the Nigerian Customs Service.
“The exercise is expected to be a continuous one and over N12.6 billion has been established as liability, while over 1.8 billion has been recovered and remitted to the Federation Account in CBN.
“The commission is also collaborating with FIRS for the reconciliation and recovery of large amount of Tax Liabilities by federal MDAs, states, and local governments.
“Over N15 billion has been recovered in the exercise from the reconciliation of tax liabilities of states and local governments across the country.”
Mbam said the commission, under his leadership, had identified the Nigeria Ports Authority, the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigeria Communication Commission as agencies that should contribute to the Federation Account.
He said at the moment, the agencies remitted revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Account, which is owned by the Federal Government, instead of the Federation Account to be shared by the three tiers of government.
Mbam challenged the new administration to address the abnormality since the agencies were operating with resources meant for Nigeria and not Federal Government alone.
According to him, the waterways, airways and the lands are owned by the three tiers of government, so the Federal Government should not keep monies from these ventures to itself alone.
On the review of the salaries and allowances of political office holders, Mbam said the commission had concluded its assessment and would soon submit the result to President Muhammadu Buhari for necessary action.
Giving a brief hindsight of the result, Mbam said the basic salaries would remain the same.
He said the commission focused on reviewing the allowances, which had been a bone of contention in recent years.
NAN.
