The Senate Joint Committee on Finance, Appropriation, National Planning and Economic Affairs has asked the government to use unclaimed funds in dormant accounts to finance infrastructures in the budget.
Other areas which the joint committee expected government to realise revenue for the financing of the budget are looted funds, redundant government assets scattered across the country that can be liquidated and pension fund and trust funds as well as amending Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The Senate panel in a document obtained by our correspondent warned against excessive external borrowing to finance the budget deficit.
The report reads in part: “There is need for government to develop interface financing mechanism for the budget infrastructure project.
“Effort should be geared towards enhancing the mobilization of non oil revenue from looted funds, unclaimed funds in dormant accounts, redundant government assets scattered across the country that can be liquidated and pension fund and trust fund well as amending Fiscal Responsibility Act to require MDAs to deposit a certain percentage of their gross revenue into consolidated Revenue Fund instead of percentage of their operating surplus which they arbitrarily determine.”
On borrowing, the document stated: “Excessive fund on external borrowing to finance the deficit should be cautiously examined.
“It could return the country to the period of debt crisis and aggravate exchange rate risk as sufficient forex may not be available to service such debt.”
It could be recalled that Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria and the 19 commercial banks in the country to disclose all accounts in their custody and the balances in such accounts.
The court ordered the banks to disclose the details of all such accounts, their owners and their proceeds in their affidavit of compliance deposed to by their Chief Compliance Officers.