The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) have not submitted their yearly financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) in over 10 years.
This is contained in a new report unveiled n Abuja yesterday and put together by the Order Paper Advocacy Initiative (OAI) and its partners in the Growth Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) Nigeria Project.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA, 2007) empowers the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) to reconcile accounts of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, and monitor and ensure that they do not spend outside of the amount appropriated to them.
The first part of the report entitled: “Where is the Money”, highlights the revenue remittance compliance index of federal MDAs. Out of the 150 MDAs investigated, 58 were categorised as ‘Above Average Compliance’, 73 were listed as ‘Average Compliance Category’ and 19 as ‘Below Average Compliance.’
From the 19 defaulting federal agencies listed under the ‘Below Average Compliance Category’, the NSITF has failed to submit its annual financial statements to the FRC for scrutiny since 2010, while the Nigeria Immigration Service has been in default since 2012.
Agencies under the ‘Below Average Compliance’ category are the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET), Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Nigerian Copyrigh Commission (NCC), among others.
Under the “Average Compliance Category’ are agencies that have not submitted their annual financial statements between 2018 and 2020. They include, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC); Federal High Court, Abuja; Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd.
Others are, Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), among others.
Those that submitted their financial statements and categorised as ‘Above Average Compliance are: Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria Press Council (NPC), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The others are Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Export Promotion Zones Authority (NEPZA), Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), National Broadcast Commission.
The Executive Director, OrderPaper, Mr. Oke Epia in his presentation said the organisation “embarked on the collation of the data to help ensure revenue remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)”.
Epia noted that a rise in government revenue was an incentive to less borrowing, said that the index as captured by the report was derived from the FRC.
According to him, “we are implementing a project we call Gift Nigeria and it seeks to interrogate the issues of transparency and accountability in the petroleum sector especially as it relates to revenue mobilisation and remittances into the Federation Account.
Unveiling the report, Mr. Chris Uwadoka, the Special Adviser to the FRC Chairman, Mr. Victor Muruako said the report released by OrderPaper and its partners would help his commission in carrying out its mandate.
“Section 51 of the FRA gives CSOs, persons, individuals generally in the country, the power to ask questions concerning government revenue, government expenditures and related matters including loans and borrowing.
“Section 51 says anybody can approach the court of law and ask these questions of any agency without having to provide reason of specific interest.
“Turning data into information is a different ballgame. This should stand as a clear example of how it should be done and other CSOS are encouraged,” he said.