News: FG Recovers N34bn Unremitted Revenue from Agencies

The federal government has recovered N34 billion from some of its agencies that had earlier failed to remit a total of N58 billion independent revenue, which they generated, to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).


The recovery followed the hard stance by the Ministry of Finance, which had on June 13 directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) to close the accounts of defaulting agencies.

According to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy (CME) and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, following the directive, the sum of N34 billion was recovered leaving a shortfall of N24 billion.

The minister, who was responding yesterday in Abuja to an inquiry from a journalist during the inauguration of the committee on the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) and Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS), said: “We will continue working until government gets what it wants.”

The recovered money, she added, had been factored into the cash-backing for the second quarter.

Inaugurating the IPPIS and GIFMIS Committee, chaired by the Minister of State, Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, Okonjo-Iweala said the IPPIS would enhance efficient personnel cost planning and budgeting, adding that with it, personnel cost is based on actual verified numbers and not estimates.

She said 215 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (NDAs) and a total of 153,019 staff members were already captured on the IPPIS platform since January, while savings totalling N118.9 billion had been recorded due to the operation of the system.

She explained that 321 MDAs were not yet on IPPIS, adding that 46,821 ghost workers had so far been detected with the help of the system.

On GIFMIS, which was introduced in April 2012, the minister said it was aimed at improving the acquisition, allocation, utilisation and conservation of public financial resources using automated and integrated, effective, efficient and economic information systems.

According to her, 58 per cent of the budget is now executed through GIFMIS and the figure would rise to 79 per cent by the end of the third quarter of 2013.

The terms of reference of the Ngama-led committee on IPPIS and GIFMIS are: to identify MDAs already connected to GIFMIS and IPPIS systems and identify those currently not in the systems; review the effectiveness of the operation of these systems with a view to identifying weaknesses in the internal control system and take appropriate actions to rectify same as well as build on areas of strength and define the modalities, implementation plan and take appropriate plans to ensure that all MDAs are connected to these systems by December 2013.

Others are: to identify and co-opt any expertise that could facilitate timely delivery of this assignment, and produce monthly progress report for submission to the CME and on completion, to submit a comprehensive report with appropriate recommendations that will ensure sustainability of the systems service-wide.

Other members of the committee are the Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu; Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla; and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Dandadi Kifas.

From the private sector are the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives, Mr. Bismarck Rewane; Mr. Farouk Gumel of PricewaterHouse Coopers; Ms. Angela Adeboye and a co-owner of Jumia.com, Mr. Tunde Kehinde.

Meanwhile, the Mortgage Refinance Company (MRC), a private-sector-driven bank being promoted by the federal government to address the acute housing challenge in the country is to take off between August and September.

Okonjo-Iweala, who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during a breakfast programme with a private radio station, said the institution was being created to address the problem of access to cheap mortgage funds for housing finance lenders.
The minister said President Goodluck Jonathan had directed her and the Minister of Housing, Ms. Ama Pepple, to fashion out appropriate and effective means of addressing the housing challenges in the country, adding that the result of such collaboration was the MRC.

According to her, the World Bank had already bought into the emerging refinance institution with a soft loan of $300 million under the bank’s International Development Association (IDA) concessionary lending window.

The minister said a mass housing approach to move the country from its current 20,000 housing units to 200,000 units in three years was part of the package to address the housing problem, adding that although ambitious, it was achievable.