To recover its debts, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) signed off on N316.5m that will be designated for the execution of the second phase Project Lighthouse.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, at the Presidential Villa, at the end of the FEC meeting in Abuja.
Project Lighthouse and Debt Recovery
She described the Project Lighthouse as a data collecting tool that would integrate and analyse data from “revenue-generating agencies in order to create insightful information for improved decision making.”
The minister disclosed that the first phase of the project was contracted to Messrs Carter House Consulting – a technology firm – that has executed other projects with the ministry.
She explained, “Messrs Carter House Consulting, a Nigerian technology company, who has worked with the ministry for three years, won the first phase of the contract in May 2019 and the second phase that is approved today is in the sum of N316.5 million.
“One major area that we have witnessed remarkable progress is in terms of recovery of debts owed to the government. Generally, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing enforcement.
“So, this Protect Lighthouse shows us that many companies and individuals who owe government agencies have refused to honour their obligations yet are still being engaged and transacted with, and even being paid on government payment platforms like Treasury Single Account.
“In 2019, the ministry issued a directive to all ministries, departments and agencies to aggregate and sent to the ministry a list of all debtors and their outstanding amounts that are owed to government agencies. This we have put together in one central fund that we call Project Lighthouse.
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“Since that time we have been able to aggregate N5.2 trillion worth of debts that are being owed to the government by third parties, and as of today, we have been able to recover N49.7 billion of this amount through the efforts of works we’ve been carrying out through Project Lighthouse and we’re still compiling.
“Project Lighthouse has brought together data from the FIRS, the Nigerian Customs Service, the Corporate Affairs Commission, as well as data from BVN in one central pool.
“Also, we’re hoping we get data from three states; land registry data from the FCT, from Kaduna state, as well as from Lagos state and other states will also be joining in the second phase.
“So, what this has done is enabling us to identify revenues that government can collect and actually be able to use the common platform to collect some revenues. We’re leveraging this project to enhance our revenue collection capabilities.”
FG’s Other Projects
On the other hand, the government is also funding other projects under the ministries of power, aviation, and transport, with the FEC approving the sum of N30.77 billion for the implementation of the projects.
The Minister of Power, Mamman Sale, who spoke with journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, said, “One, it approved the payment of the claims and the variation of onshore and offshore cost of the existing contract for the construction of 1×1 50 MBA three 31, 32, 33 KV sub-stations at Damaturu and 1×330 KV land by extension at Gombi in favour Msssr Kadlak International Limited in the sum of $1,621,423.88 cents plus N102,905,606.7.
“The other one is the approval of the contract for the design, manufacturing and supply of four fabricated sub-stations of 2×100 MBA 132 33 KV power transformers with complete accessories for deployment to Damaturu, Potiskum, Biu, and Maiduguri for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in favour of Msssr Kidon T Good Electric Company Limited and Incomtel Engineering Limited in the sum of $24,387,850.22 cents plus N1,475,204,584.34. Altogether, it is N10,730,393,742.82.”
