The Federal Government has said that anybody found culpable in the diversion of revenues after the ongoing audits of revenue-generating agencies will be dealt with appropriately.
This was made known by the Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, who briefed State House correspondents after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, while answering a question on the consequences awaiting heads of agencies that collected revenues in dollars and remitted same in naira.
She said: “On the issue on the heads of (revenue) agencies that remitted monies in naira instead of dollars, as I explained in some cases, we are going into audit in line with Section 108 of the law. What I would say is, let’s see the results of those audits because it would be unfair to pre-empt the outcomes of those audits.
“But if as a result of those audits, it’s very clear that the financial procedures have been breached, of course there is a process for dealing with the culprits if there was any of such sharp practices. So, I’d say please, let the process begin. And the reason why we’re having the process is that in the past, there has been nobody (punished). So, some people have been spending as they please. So, we’ve to look at how you’ve been spending; is it in line with correct guidelines and procedures? So, I’d say that let’s see the outcomes of that exercise and then, any consequences will fall out of that”.
The minister revealed that apart from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and other agencies, some foreign missions of the country also remitted in naira, revenues they collected in dollars.
“We’ve done a comprehensive audit of all the agencies that actually collect money in foreign currency and remit in naira. The requirement is that such monies should go to the CBN which should exchange the money into naira we’re now doing an audit to identify other agencies, but what we’ve identified is that the agency concerned was (NIMASA). But we discovered that there are other agencies we have not identified that also collect funds in foreign currencies, including our foreign missions. So, we’re doing a full audit of all those accounts and to ensure that all those revenues now are converted in accordance with the extant procedures and guidelines”.
Adeosun said the major discussion of the FEC meeting was the government’s initiative to plug revenue leakages in revenue-generating MDAs.
She said her presentation to council was to remind ministers supervising those revenue-generating boards of their responsibilities under the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
Adeosun said she would sit down with relevant ministers and boards of revenue-generating agencies to go through the agencies’ budgets with a view to ensure they were reasonable and costs not inflated.
“Under FRA, these boards and corporations who generate our revenue are supposed to generate an operating surplus, 80% of which is to be credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. But we’ve discovered that many agencies have never credited anything and never generated any operating surplus including some whose salaries and overhead capital is paid by the federal government. They generate revenue which they spend without any form of control. So, one of the big initiatives and changes of this administration is to bring all those agencies into line, to insist that they must submit a budget, that their budget must be subject to approval and they must operate within that budget so that the surplus meant to come to the federal government can be seen to be used as appropriate.
“For clarification, let me explain that in non-oil economies, these are revenues of government. It was because we had oil in the past that nobody has ever really looked at MDAs, NCC, some many agencies, so many boards of government in their hundreds. We had issued a circular in December requesting that they send us their budget and what we discussed today was the responsibility of the ministers to ensure that whether those agencies have boards or not, those budgets are prepared. The Ministry of Finance is going to sit down with the supervising ministers and the boards concerned where necessary to go through their budgets and make sure that they’re reasonable, that the costs are not inflated”, she said.
Adeosun said all the ministers concerned identified boards and agencies under them where revenue was being diverted.
“We also discussed that in some cases, because some agencies have a track record and history of making sure that every naira they earned is spent, that we’ll go in and audit agencies under Section 107 (8) of the Financial Regulations. The Accountant-General, who is under the Ministry of Finance has the powers to go in and make inquiries about how public money is spent. So, we’ll be sending in auditors to some agencies where we believe everything that their cost is simply excessive and not in keeping with our expectations. The expected outcome of this is that the internally generated revenue which the new budget is banking on will actually become a reality. So, that was the principal discussion and everybody in the cabinet endorsed the initiative.
“We’re going to make every naira count and in order to make every naira count, we’ve to know how much is coming in and control how it goes out. All the ministers concerned agreed that enough is enough, and they even identified boards and agencies under them where they know that revenue is being diverted. So, the key message is that change has now come to those agencies, boards and corporations who had been hitherto operating without any control”, she added.