The Senate on Tuesday set-up an Adhoc Committee to probe all income generating Federal Government agencies over the mismanagement of their Internally Generated Revenue from 2012 till 2016.
The decision of the Senate was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Solomon Adeola, who expressed dissatisfaction with the mismanagement of government funds by income generating agencies in the country.
Leading the debate on the motion, Senator Adeola noted that section 80, subsection 1-4 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) clearly stipulated that all revenue and monies raised or received shall be paid and form the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
In his word: “T”the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 was enacted to ensure transparency, accountability and prevent corrupt practices in relation to public revenues and expenditure;
“The Section 21 -23 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 clearly limited corporations, agencies and government owned companies listed in the Schedule to the Act to expenditure of only a fifth of its operating surplus with the balance paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government;
“The acting Chairman of Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Mr. Victor Muruako, on November 8, 2016 raised an alarm over leakages in revenue and remittances which he said has assumed alarming proportion in the last five years with some MDAs producing two different Statement of Accounts in an attempt to manipulate their operating surpluses and losses;
“The last National Economic Council meeting, the Federal Government specifically accused revenue generating agencies of raising over N1.5 trillion and expending over 90 per cent on recurrent expenditure mostly in paying bloated salaries and controversial allowances above Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Committee approval, monetization of medical allowances, unapproved overseas travels, lavish training allowances and excessive personal loan approval all amounting to financial misconducts:
“These corporations, agencies and government owned companies have over the years grossly violated the letters of the 1999 Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act in relation to their revenue generation activities and expenditure;
“The various audit queries against these agencies over the years further indicates possible mismanagement of public funds against the spirit of the Constitution and Fiscal Responsibility Act;
“Iin view of Federal Government’s dwindling revenue from the traditional crude oil sector and the ongoing recession, these government bodies are continuing in shortchanging Government of needed revenue through various illegal practices.”
Other senators such as Ahmad Lawan, Sola Adeyeye, Bala Ibn Na’Allah spoke in support of the motion.
After exhaustive debate on the motion, the Senate unanimously agreed with the prayer of the sponsor of the motion that an adhoc committee should be set up to look into the matter.
Members of the adhoc Committee are Senators Fatima Raji Rasaki, Andy Uba, Yusuf Abubakar, John Enoh and Yahaya Abdullahi.
The committee is to be chaired by Adeola.
It is expected to submit its report in six weeks.
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