By Tope Sunday
President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that henceforth, all federal government owned revenue generating agencies and parastatals would be subjected to scrutiny over poor remittance to the government’s covers.
Buhari said he had also directed the Economic Management Team (EMT) to review the fiscal profiles of the affected agencies in order to ensure a strict compliance with the applicable Executive Orders and Financial Regulations.
To this end, the President also disclosed that his government may approach the National Assembly for the consideration of a review of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
These remarks were contained in the President’s speech while presenting the N8.612trn 2018 Budget proposal before the joint session of the National Assembly recently.
He said: “This recurring issue of under-remittance of operating surpluses by State Owned Entities is absolutely unacceptable. You will all recall that in September 2017, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) announced that they were ready to remit N7.8 billion back to the government.
“The shocking discovery was that in the last decades, JAMB only remitted an aggregate of N51 million. This clearly illustrates the abuses that occur in State Owned Entities as well as their potential for increased Independent Revenues, if only people would do the right thing. We all need to play our role to ensure the right thing is done. I would also like to remind Nigerians that the Whistle Blower lines are still open.
“Accordingly, I have directed the Economic Management Team (EMT) to review the fiscal profiles of these agencies, to ensure strict compliance with the applicable Executive Orders and Financial Regulations”, he added.
