The Federal Government recorded a reduction of N2.8tn in independent revenue from revenue generating agencies between 2015 and 2020, an analysis of data from the Budget Office has shown.
According to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, revenue generating government agencies must remit 80 per cent of their operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund account.
Some of these revenue generating agencies are the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria Shippers Council, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, National Health Insurance Scheme, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and the Nigeria Communications Commission.
Others are the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, National Examination Council, Nigeria Television Authority, Nigeria Shippers Council, National Pension Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission, Standard Organization of Nigeria, among others.
Over the following years, most of these agencies have been underpaying revenue into the treasure chest of Federal Government.
The development has created a very difficult way for the Federal Government to achieve its revenue target based on the annual budget approved for the agencies.
Further emphasis showed that the government set a cumulative revenue target of N5.2tn for these agencies during the four year period.
However, during the period, the aggregate actual amount made by these agencies was just N2.4tn, leading into a shortfall of N2.8tn.
However, in a turn of events, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, recently announced that the government exceeded its prorated independence revenue target for the January to November 2021 period.
According to Ahmed, as of November 2021, revenue generating agencies remitted N1.01tn into government coffers, against a projection of N973.41bn.
She had said, ““We have now for the first time surpassed the one trillion mark collection for independent revenues. N1.104tn was collected as at November 2021 against a budget target of N973.41bn,”
“Analysts have always considered our projections unrealistic, but we have always insisted on the potentials that exist to grow FGN independent revenues. The steady improvement of our independent revenues over the years …reflects the performance of our growth initiatives.”
While predicting better independent revenue performance in 2022, Ahmed assured that the government was adopting various measures to tackle the nation’s revenue problem.
