Revenue generating agencies of the federal government have been told by the National Assembly to boost the federation account by 3 trillion Naira in 2022. Senate President Ahmad Lawan gave them the matching order in Abuja. Mr. Lawan said this in a speech to open an interactive session “on the need to improve the internally generated revenue of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the projections of agency revenue contained in the Appropriation Act 2022.
The tax agencies charged with generating the sum are National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Federal Internal Revenue Service, FIRS, National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, Nigerian Postal Service, Teaching Hospital from the University of Lagos and the Nigerian Customs Service. Others included the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigerian Civil Defense and Security Corps, the Nigerian Prison Service, the Nigerian Maritime Academy, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and the Abuja Geographic Information Office, AGIS. Also included are the Federal Capital Territory Administration, the Nigerian Power Commission, the Nigerian Administrative Staff College, the Import Export Bank of Nigeria, NEXIM, the Nigerian Ports Authority and the College of Aviation Technology
The meeting was between Senate leaders and members of the Government’s Finance and Revenue Generating Agencies Committee. The President of the Senate, in his speech, said that the purpose of the meeting was to explore means of increasing government revenue. According to him, one of those ways is for the National Assembly to be rigid about increasing revenue to reduce the country’s budget deficit and loans, as well as to avoid unnecessary spending by government agencies. He assured that the upper house will provide the necessary support through legislation to ensure that revenue agencies perform to meet and exceed their objectives.
He said: “In 2022, the National Assembly has assumed, and rightly so, that our government-owned businesses can generate up to N3 trillion if we have the mindset that we can make it happen and of course we make sure to monitor to stop any chance of unwarranted spending. by government agencies. “But that doesn’t mean in any way that it’s going to be some kind of research on what you do, but rather an encouragement of what you have to do. In this meeting and the following ones, there should be no restrictions on the discussions. When an agency feels that it is hindered in any way from achieving its goal, it should say so, so that we can prescribe the right solutions for it to perform. “As the National Assembly, let me say that the Senate in particular will be rigid in generating more and more revenue.
“We will be rigid, we will continue to insist, because we believe that this is a safe and guaranteed way to reduce our deficit and indebtedness. Mr. Lawan explained that the upper house’s push to get more revenue into the government coffers would improve the economy and facilitate infrastructure development. “This Committee is changing, because Senate leaders believe we can do much better and we’ve seen signs last year when some of the agencies performed beyond what was expected. So it is an opportunity for us to save and improve our economy and of course to make Nigeria achieve further infrastructure development, which is the goal of this administration and of all Nigerians. We believe that when you (collectors) generate the money, we (National Assembly) appropriate it. Prudence is essential here, when we spend our money. And when we get into debt, as the National Assembly has always tried to do, we get into debt to deal with specific government projects and programs,” said the President of the Senate. The chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, in his welcoming speech, lamented that there were insufficient funds for the implementation of policies and projects captured in the 2022 budget of the federal government.
He explained that the funds were derived in part from revenue generated by government-owned businesses and other revenue sources independent of the federal government. According to the legislator, “there is an urgent need for everyone to participate in the generation of income for the government, as well as to prevent the misuse and leakage of said income for frivolous purposes not sanctioned by the laws of the National Assembly.” He advised that for the government to reduce and eliminate the budget deficit associated with the nation’s budget over the years, an effort must be made to minimize borrowing to finance projects.
