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Senate to conduct public hearing on amendment
Process to end impunity
To address recurring problem associated with under-declaration of revenue surplus paid into consolidated rev-enue fund account by revenue generating agencies (MDAs), the Federal Government has deliberately inserted stringent penalties against erring chief executive officers in the pending amendment to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission Act currently before the National Assembly.
With the passage of the Amendment Act by the upper chamber of the National Assembly and Presi-dent Muhammadu Buhari endorsing it, any head of agency that shortchanges government in revenue remittance into the consolidated revenue fund risks dismissal, a top officer in the Presidency with knowledge of the amendment. Given the rate of revenue shortfall being experienced from traditional sources for funding government’s obligations, the source said the government was determined more than ever to pay attention to revenue coming from MDAs.
He said the push for FRC amendment had attained substantial progress at the Senate, adding that public hearings would be conducted soon. According to him, absence of a stringent provision in the subsisting FRC Act to check financial abuse of heads of revenue generating agencies gives agencies the latitude to shortchange the government of revenue. He said FRC was seeking an amendment to its activities to allow punishment for agencies, which fail to render their accounts as prescribed by law. “As of today, the government is challenged more than ever before in the area of revenue.
The urgent need to harvest all available revenue in their rightful quantity to fix infrastructure and other obligations is non-negotiable. The commission has been on this. It has been shouting about MDAs remitting peanuts out of the quantum revenue they generated into the Consolidated Revenue Fund account. The FRC Chairman, Victor Muruako, has been canvassing for the insertion of a punishable clause into the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) to put an end to deliberate violations by public servants,” the officer added. He said some agencies had taken advantage of the non-provision of punishments for violators of the Act.
“The proposed amendment seeks to end the impunity that has previously attended the deliberate violation of critical provisions of the Act, especially regarding availing the commission, on request, certain documents/information relating to public revenues and expenditure as provided under Section 2(1) of the Act. “There are no punishments provided for offences committed under the Act. Hence, public servants find it very convenient to violate the act without care,” he said. Contacted, the commission’s Head, Strategic Communications Directorate, Mr. Bede Ogueri Anyanwu, confirmed the development.
“Yes, the commission has an impending Amendment Act before the Senate. The next phase is public hearing. There have been a lot of violations of the current Act by revenue generating MDAs, especially in the aspect of remittance and submission of financial statements. The pending amendment is to confer some enforcement power on the commission,”
The 2019 annual report of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) released in March this year showed revenue returns submitted to it recorded a shortfall of over N5 billion as against N7 billion realised in 2018. The report was signed by the Chairman, Muruakor. The commission, which has the mandate to monitor MDAs’ revenue remittances into consolidated revenue accounts in line with the provisions of FRA Act of 2007, lamented that most MDAs refused to comply with the directive to submit revenue returns on a quarterly basis to it for assessment. Only eight MDAs complied with this crucial directive in 2019 as against 10 in 2018. In 2019, it revealed that a total of N2.569 billion was remitted to the treasury by 11 MDAs as independent revenue. This shows a decline compared to the sum of N7.752 billion remitted by 14 MDAs in 2018.
“It is pertinent to state that the responses and submission rate is disappointing despite the requests and reminders for submissions mailed out to MDAs. The commission’s request would help to assess the achievement of revenue targets and level of compliance. Only eight MDAs completed their 2019 submission while 10 did in 2018. “There is a need for the commission to intensify efforts in system audit of MDAs in order to identify revenue generating potentials and revenue categories. This will prod MDAs to wake up to their responsibilities and the commission will be in good stead to ensure higher revenue remittances to the Treasury in the years ahead,” FRC noted in the report.telegraph
