By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Federal Government is set to deploy Directors of Finance and Accounts to ten Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs), and revenue generating agencies with a view to tackling the dwindling revenue from oil and gas sector.
The ten Revenue Directors are to be deployed in the pilot scheme to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Others are, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Nigeria Maritime Administration (NIMSA); Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday while flagging off a 3-day Special Orientation Workshop organised by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation for the Directors.
Ahmed who underscored the importance of raking in more revenue from key revenue generating agencies to fund government expenditure, urged the directors to be more diligent in the discharge of their functions.
She told the Revenue Directors that they would be involved in the revenue operations of the FGOEs , by having better understanding of business processes and operations of the FGOEs and cause improved transparency and accountability in revenue reporting by the FGOEs.
The Minister said, “it is a fact that oil revenue is an exogenous variable to us and is highly volatile. Continuous reliance on it would mean that our public expenditures will always be dwindled by the shock in the global oil market price which is not within our control.
“One of the possible solutions is to look into the non-oil revenues, take advantage of the potentials and make it robust. We have seen the results on the increase in VAT through the Finance Act 2019 and efforts in diversifying the revenue base of government by the revenue generating agencies”
“An important sector with huge potentials is the revenue generation by the Federal Government Owned Entities. You may all wish to know that analysis of budgets of some of the Federal Government Owned Entities shows that these FGOEs have the capacities, if properly managed, to significantly improve the revenue base of the federal government”.
“It is in this light that the deployment of the Treasury Directors is considered expedient to the selected FGOEs as a pilot test. The deployment of Directors of Revenue to the FGOEs is in compliance with Presidential approval that was conveyed via SGF’s circular reference SGF.50/S.3/C.9/24 dated 16th October, 2018 on the approved Revenue Performance Management Framework for Government Owned Enterprises (FGOEs).
“The government is increasingly concerned with the dwindling profile of Revenue and this trend has to be quickly arrested particularly with Key revenue generating agencies of the government”, she said.
The Minister admonished Revenue Directors being deployed to ensure strict adherence to extant rules and regulations in the areas of compliance to approved budget and due process mechanism in procurement and payments”.
She said their tasks will be aided with the deployment of Information Technology, Real Time.
“The Integrated Revenue Monitoring System is being put in place to help the monitoring of the revenues of the FGOEs online real-time and to ensure its improved transparency and accountability. This programme is designed as an orientation to the officers that will be posted as Directors of Revenues and is hoped that this will help them to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently and most importantly in utmost good faith.
As civil servants, you are the drivers and the most vital machinery of Government policies. There is the need to continually evolve new ideas to solidify its role and boost its Capacity as the main bridge between Government and the citizenry. To ensure the success of this plausible initiative, it is important that we take the ownership of it. It is hoped that this will eventually promote and enhance service delivery”, she added.
In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha noted that the Special Orientation Programme organized for Directors of Finance and Accounts could not have come at a better time than now.
The SGF was represented by the Permanent Secretary (Ecological Fund), Dr Habiba Lawal.
He said, “It is public knowledge that the Federal Government of Nigeria and indeed the entire tiers of Government have been witnessing a downward trend in revenue receipt since 2015. The issue has occupied the attention of Government and in 2018 a Revenue performance Management Framework for Federal Government Owned Enterprises (FGOEs) was put in place and the Presidentdirected that my Office issue a Circular to guide implementation.
“Among the decisions taken to boost the revenue base of Government was to post Professional Treasury Officers to select FGOEs to among others enable the Treasury to have a better understanding of the business processes and operations of the FGOEs. This will help in the review of the current systems, Policies and procedures in revenue administration and Management”
“The policy is a reform initiative aimed at generating more revenue and associated remittance into the government treasury and to also improve the operational performance of all GOEs. Hitherto, Government has noted that a number of GOEs remit less operating surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund than is required by law and/or Financial Regulations”, the SGF reiterated.
In his welcome address, the Accountant General of Federation (AGF) Mr Ahmed Idris said the orientation was geared towards equipping the participants with necessary skills to be able to carry out their duties and functions required to perform creditably as Directors of Revenue in the respective FGOEs.
Ahmed recalled the genesis of deploying Revenue Directors to FGOEs, which he said was initiated by a former Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Dr. Shamsudeen Usman .
“The Committee had worked hard and recommended fifty Treasury officers at Directorate level across various MDAs for this programme and ten will be deployed to the selected FGOEs”, he said.
“We are all aware that we are facing serious fiscal challenges. The only solution to the present situation is to diversify from the volatile oil revenue and look inward into the non-oil revenues with special attention to the FGOEs”, the AGF said.
