The House of Reps has expressed displeasure over how some government agencies conceal their revenues, thereby denying the Federal Government the fund for budgeting.
The House criticizes the way the country resorts to borrowing N5.62 trillion to finance the deficit in the 2022 budget, while these agencies starve the government of funds.
Rep. James Faleke, the Chairman of House Committee on Finance, made this known at the ongoing public hearing on 2022 to 2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) on Thursday in Abuja.
“We are not happy that Nigeria is borrowing N5.62 trillion, and we have some fund somewhere staying fallow without being used.
“For God’s sake, let us build this country together for the sake of all of us,’’ he said.
Faleke said that the country’s major problem was revenue generation, adding that the House of Reps would be more interested in how much government agencies could save.
He said that if the House of Reps discovered that any government agencies’ capital projects were unnecessary, the House would remove them to get revenue for the country.
The committee also directed the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) to provide the turnover of the amount realized from all network operators from 2018 to 2020.
Faleke said this would enable the committee to look at their records and determine if the revenue proposal for 2022 to 2024 would be good for the country.
Some of the agencies invited for the 2022 to 2024 MTEF and FSP public hearing are Nigeria Port Authority, Nigeria Communication Commission, Nigeria Copyright Commission, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission.
Others are Nigeria Metrology Agency, Nigeria Postal Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, and Nigeria Communication Satellite Ltd.
Mr. Emeka Iseogwu, the General Manager, Finance, who represented the Director-General of NPA, said that the agency was on course in terms of revenue generation.
He said that NPA was targeting N338 billion for revenue in 2022.
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News Agency Of Nigeria
