The revenue recovery drive of the Federal Government has successfully recovered the sum of ₦57 billion owed by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The amount is part of the ₦5.2 trillion liabilities owed to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Refunds were also made by companies who failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been made.
According to a statement by the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, Federal Ministry of Finance, Okokon Udo, who was represented by the Director of Special Duties, Aisha Omar, the ministry became aware of the debts after the collation of data which revealed over 5,000 debtors across over 93 MDAs across the country.
Speaking during a sensitisation workshop on the Federal Government Debt Recovery Drive through Project Lighthouse Programme in Enugu, Udo noted that due to the outstanding debts owed to the FG, the ministry set up a debt recovery process termed Project Lighthouse, created to properly aggregate relevant economic and financial information from other government agencies who before now, failed to share data.
Udo explained, “Generally, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement. It may interest you to note that the Ministry, through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application, has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately ₦5.2 trillion.”
Using Project Lighthouse, it was discovered that defaulting companies and individuals who failed to honour their repayment obligations were still being paid through government platforms like the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and Treasury Single Account (TSA) due to a lack of transparency.
A breakdown of the debts showed that some of the culprits included corporate entities and individuals with unpaid credit facilities in the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA) etc. Other retrieved debts came from Judgment Debt in favour of the government and debts owed to the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) by insurance companies amongst others.