NASS to probe alleged loss of N4tr to waivers by govt agencies

The National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance has established a special panel to probe a shortfall of over N4 trillion in revenue due to indiscriminate waivers by agencies of government.

The lawmakers lamented that due to waivers, there is a serious shortfall between what is supposed to be collected as revenue and what is actually collected.

The lawmakers came to this decision on Monday at the Joint Committee hearing, co-chaired by Senator Sani Musa and Rep James Faleke, held to probe the revenue profiles of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) ahead of the 2025 budget.

The hearing was intended to enable the Senate and House of Representatives Committees to develop accurate and realistic revenue projections for 2025.

The panel to probe the shortfall followed a motion moved by Senator Adamu Aliero.
Moving the motion, Aliero said, “Due to the issue of waivers, there is a serious shortfall between what is supposed to be collected as revenue and what is actually collected.

“From our record, over N5.9 trillion was supposed to be the consolidated revenue fund of the federation, but we only have N1.9 trillion. We need to set up a special committee that will investigate this serious anomaly.

“We cannot continue to allow revenue agencies to spend money without the National Assembly’s approval. If someone is given a waiver, we have to find out who gave that waiver. A shortfall of over N4 trillion is not a small amount. We found out that over N4.9 trillion has not been remitted. We should set up an investigative committee to look into all the money that has not been remitted.”

Co-chairman Musa said the Committee was aware that a lot of GOEs collect revenues from other sources and never disclose them.

“Some of them didn’t even disclose to the budget office. We’ve been able to get all those, and we have done our own scrutinization. We believe that GOEs and heads of departments that are here will be able to open up and give us more details of how these revenues are sourced. We have also looked at their expenditures.

You can imagine an agency collecting revenue whereby it is expected that sales are self-funded.

“Funds that are supposed to be remitted to the consolidated revenue fund and are never done. I think from now on, we are going to block that leakage and we will do the needful. We will scrutinize the expenditures of these GOEs because a GOE will collect 100% revenue, and in its expenditure, you will see that it’s spending about 95% of the revenue it collected. So, this is the avenue at which we are able to find a lasting solution to those leakages.”

He pointed out that the President, while presenting the 2025 appropriation bill before the National Assembly, stressed the importance of heads of agencies appearing before the National Assembly to defend their budgets.

He said MDAs should not be surprised to see that zero allocation is made to them if they are unable to present themselves and defend what they have presented to the budget office.

The panel threatened to stop the Federal Government’s grant to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the 2025 budget proposal.

The Committee queried the presentation by the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, that the agency remitted N4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, while it received a grant of N6 billion from the Federal Government.

The Committee queried why an agency that funds itself should be getting allocations from the Federal Government.

JAMB was also queried for other issues, including allocating the sum of N1.1 billion for refreshments and meals in the 2025 budget proposal.

Oloyede attempted to make further clarifications but was directed to come back in three days with a more comprehensive presentation.

The Committee also queried the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) for not remitting the sum of N8 billion it generated in 2024.

This followed the presentation by the Deputy Corps Marshal, representing the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, who said that although they had a target of N10 billion, they generated N13 billion.

But the Committee queried the FRSC for remitting only N5 billion of the amount.
“You had a target of N10 billion but generated N13 billion, yet only remitted N5 billion. So, you just bring the balance. You need to furnish this committee with details of the unremitted funds,” Senator Sani directed.

Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, said the 2024 budget is the first full-year budget of the present administration.

He said the lessons learned from 2024 formed the basis of the assumptions in the 2025 budget, which is designed to generate more revenue for the government and provide solutions for the economy.

He said GOEs must do better and urged all agencies of government to cooperate fully with the National Assembly.

Agencies that were invited include the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Nigeria Shippers’ Council, Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria Communications Commission, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, Electricity Training Institute, and Securities and Exchange Commission.