BY FRANCIS KADIRI
The deployment of Treasury Revenue Directors to ten Federal Government owned enterprises in 2020 contributed positively to the realization of N1.250 trillion internally generated revenue in 2021, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, has said.
Confirming the development to our correspondent on Friday, the Director, Information, Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Accountant General, Henshaw Ogubike, in a statement said the Accountant General made the disclosure at a retreat for Chief Executives and Treasury Directors of Revenue of the Federal Government Owned Enterprises (FGOES), in Abuja on Friday.
According to the statement, the Accountant General recalled that in 2020, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, approved the deployment of Treasury Revenue Directors to ten federal government owned enterprises, adding that the minister was optimistic that the presence of Treasury Directors at the establishments will ensure strict adherence to extant rules and regulations in the areas of compliance to approved budget and due process mechanism in procurement and payments.
While giving an assessment of the policy, the Accountant General noted that the deployment of the directors is already yielding benefits, stating that government recorded tremendous increases in Internally Generated Revenue from N532.90 billion in 2020 to N1.250 trillion in 2021.
He expressed optimism that there will be greater improvement in government revenue inflows if the policy is sustained.
According to him, “the deployment of Treasury Revenue Directors to the FGOEs became imperative due to challenges that became prevalent with regard to revenue generation and remittance by the Federal Government Owned Enterprises.”
He said challenges include, “non-remittance of operating surpluses by major revenue generating agencies and over bloated expenditure by agencies at the stage of budget preparation with the view to generating and spending IGR.”
He also said, “payment of unapproved salaries and allowances, connivance with external auditors to prepare different audited financial statements to avoid tax payment was also a challenge.”
He noted that government is monitoring the ten establishments involved in the first phase of the deployment, adding that the exercise will be extended to the remaining 55 establishments once approved by the minister of finance.
