The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, on Thursday disclosed that the Federal Government does not have the required mechanism for monitoring revenue inflow of the various revenue generating agencies.
The Accountant General added that he is incapacitated from effectively blocking the various loopholes of revenue leakages happening across the various revenue generating agencies.
Idris made this known when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance during the defence of the 2021 Budget.
The Committee Chairman, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, had asked the AuGF whether his office has any mechanism of monitoring revenue inflows of the various revenue generating agencies and by extension blocking the leakages in the system.
The AGF in his response said: “We don’t have any monitoring mechanism for now aside the Treasury Single Account platform, which is not robust enough for the mechanism you are requesting for.
“We are trying to work out a robust mechanism to monitor revenue inflows of the entire 300 revenue generating agencies in blocking loopholes of revenue Leakages.
“But for now, through the TSA, revenue inflows of about 60 out of the 300 revenue generating agencies are being well monitored.”
Irked by his submission, the Committee Chairman and other members like Senators Ayo Akinyelure, Adamu Aliero and Opeyemi Bamidele wondered why only 60 out out 300 revenue generating agencies are being monitored.
Olamilekan said: “This is unacceptable and very injurious to efforts being made for revenue generation in financing the N12.6 trillion 2021 budget.
“Robust mechanism that will cover all the 300 affected agencies must be put up if government desire of blocking leakages is to be taken seriously.”
He also kicked against monopolistic usage of REMITA platform for revenue collection in the country, saying: “Using it as the sole platform is not acceptable.
“We need more formidable platforms for revenue collection because there are a lot of complaints about REMITA.
“REMITA, to a large extent, has failed in the cumbersome assignment given to it.
“It cannot remain as the some online revenue monitoring mechanism for the Federal Government.”
The AuGF however informed the committee that efforts are being made by his office in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria to bring on board more online revenue monitoring platforms.
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