… as laws to strip MDAs of spending 75% IGR scale second reading
Legislation is underway to strip revenue generating agencies and parastatals of the powers to spend 75 percent of the revenue generated within a fiscal year, saving the country over N2 trillion from internally generated revenue (IGR).
Some of the affected agencies include National Sugar Development Council, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), among others.
BusinessDay gathers that the House of Representatives is set to commence debate on various legislations seeking to stop leakages across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), even as the Special Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Review is working on separating the revenue accrued to the Federal Government from the Federation Account in line with international best practice.
The proposed amendment bills when passed into law will strip all the revenue generating agencies and parastatals the powers to spend 75 percent of the revenue generated within a fiscal year.
According to a lawmaker who spoke on condition of anonymity, the legislations when passed into law would save the country over N2 trillion IGR accrued to all the Executive bodies such as federal agencies, parastatals, institutes, universities, and councils, among others.
Federal Government currently provides funding for overheads, recurrent expenditure of about 32 ministries and over 500 agencies, councils, parastatals and commissions across the country.
Recall that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy has led to the recovery of over N7 trillion.
The bills seen by BusinessDay, which scaled through first reading on the floor of the House penultimate week, were read by Gani Ojagbohunmi, the new clerk of the House, and have been gazetted for second reading in line with the legislative practice.
One of the bills seeks to amend the Companies and Allied Matters Act C20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to provide for the payment of all monies received by the Commission into the Federation Account in accordance with Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
It also seeks to amend Section 321(2) and Section 322(4) of Companies and Allied Matters Act by deleting the words “Consolidated Revenue Fund” and inserting the words, “Federation Account.”
According to the proponents of the bills, Gyang Istifanus Dung, the legislative framework seek to amend the establishment Act of various agencies and parastatals by providing for the “payment of all monies received by the MDAs into the Federation Account in accordance with Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
The revenue accrued to these Agencies include contributions, loans or grants and gifts, levies, fees, taxes, penalties, grants-in-aid, testamentary disposition and all other assets.
Some of the affected agencies include National Sugar Development Council, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), among others.
According to the bill, “all monies received shall be receipted and shall be paid into the Federation Account within 24 hours of receipt or the next working day.”
In a telephone interview with BusinessDay, Abdulrazak Namdas, chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, noted that there were extant laws that mandated all the agencies of government to remit monies generated into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
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