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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
A new research on revenue remittance compliance index of Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) has shown that the Federal Government’s revenue crisis is now being worsened by their refusal to remit all surplus revenues as stipulated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007. The study was carried out by Order Paper Advocacy Initiative, Centre for Transparency Advocacy, HipCity Innovation Centre, CLICE Foundation and the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Speaking at the public presentation of the research report on revenue remittance compliance index of MDAs, Oke Epia, Executive Director, Order Paper said 150 MDAs were captured in the data provided for the work by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC).
“These include scheduled and non-scheduled corporations and agencies of the Federal Government. Of this number, 58 are categorized as above average compliance having submitted their Annual Financial Statement (AFS) up to 2020 leaving only at least 2021 as outstanding fiscal year to be submitted to the Commission. 73 agencies fall into the average compliance category. These have not submitted their AFS for a range of years.
“Nine agencies in the petroleum industry (and allied sector) which fall within the focus of the Global Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) Nigeria Project present a mixed bag of compliance. The Department of Petroleum Resources (Now Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC); the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (now Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd); the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board (now Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority); the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA (now Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) posted Average performances. The National Oil Spill Detection & Response Agency (NOSDRA); and the Oil & Gas Free Zone Authority posted Above Average performances. However, the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB) stands alone in the below average category having not submitted AFS from 2017 till date. This is in spite of several reminders from the FRC to do so”, Epia explained.
He added that plans were afoot to to interrogate the issues of transparency and accountability in the petroleum sector, especially as it relates to revenue mobilization and remittances into the federation account.
