The Fiscal Responsibility Commission has paid over N2.15 trillion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government over the past years as Operating Surplus from Government corporations since inception.
Established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007, Act No.31, enacted on the 30th July, 2007 by the National Assembly, the Commission was inaugurated by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on April 4, 2009.
Chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Victor Muruako, highlighted the major achievements of the agency during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume, in Abuja on Monday.
Muruako sought the collaboration of the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs to organize a National Fiscal Responsibility forum for Local Government Chairmen and Councillors to inculcate in them the principle of prudent management of resources, transparency and accountability.
“With the collaboration of your Ministry which oversights Local Government affairs we propose a One-Day National Forum will create an enabling environment to engage LGA leadership on the need to rise up to the challenge of using their position to better the life of people.
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“Your Excellency, the Commission will also be willing to collaborate with your Ministry in the verification and monitoring of Special Intervention Projects (SIPs) of the members of the National Assembly.
“This is because in our efforts verifying Federal Government projects around the country, we have discovered that most of these projects have been abandoned particularly when the members that sponsored them leave office or are not re-elected. Notably, Government spend huge sums of money on these project and should therefore ensure that the objectives are realized,” he said.
Responding, Akume expressed the readiness of his Ministry to work with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to ensure prudent and transparent management of resources by all tiers of government by beaming search light on them.
He said his Ministry would set up a technical team while Fiscal Responsibility Commission should also constitute a similar team to work together for the realization of the proposed National Fiscal Responsibility forum for Local Government Chairmen and Councilors.
“Fiscal responsibility and the urgent need for prudent management of public resources came into our nation’s public consciousness and became central to our economic management efforts with the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.
“It is an Act to provide for prudent management of the nation’s resources, ensure long-term macro-economic stability of the national/subnational economy, secure greater accountability and transparency in fiscal operations within the Medium-Term Fiscal Policy Framework, and the establishment of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to ensure the promotion and enforcement of the nation’s economic objectives; and for related matters.
“Fiscal responsibility relates to Fiscal Federalism. It is the assignment of revenue and expenditure functions to the different tiers of government, namely Central, State and Local Governments in a federal system of government,” the minister noted.
