The Senate Committee on Finance yesterday expressed concerns over poor capital releases to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to execute projects in the outgoing fiscal year.
The committee described this year’s budget performance as poor due to improper capital releases to fund government projects.
It called for comprehensive reports on how much revenue had been remitted to government coffers, with emphasis on the one per cent stamp duty collections.
The committee bemoaned discrepancies in Nigeria’s revenue generation and expenditure tracking and threatened zero allocation to MDAs that fail to honour National Assembly’s summons.
The Senate committee said these when the Accountant General of the Federation (AG-F), Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, appeared before its investigative hearing, which focused on the remittance of internally generated revenue (IGR), fiscal accountability, and the overall state of the country’s financial management system.
The senators asked Mrs. Madein tough questions over delayed fund releases and significant budget increases.
Committee Chairman Sani Musa stressed the need to address financial inconsistencies across government agencies, saying such issues undermine transparency and accountability in governance.
“We should be able to determine, at any point, the exact state of revenues collected, how they’ve been disposed of, and what has been allocated to various accounts. Unfortunately, that is not the case today,” he said.
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The committee noted that the key areas of concern included the discrepancies in the reports of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Federation Account, the dividends received from liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations, and other significant variances.
Mrs. Madein presented a summary of the IGR for the Federal Government up to September 2024.
The reported figures included: Independent revenue of N2.7 trillion, Operating surplus from Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) amounting to N2.3 trillion, and MDAs’ IGR of N344 billion.
The AG-F reported ₦8 billion capital allocation for 2024, yet only ₦2.9 billion (25 per cent) had been released for project execution.
She said stamp duty revenues from 2020 to 2024 were disappointingly low, totaling ₦30.3 million, compared to the ₦301.49 million IGR.
Mrs. Madein explained that the centralised payment system was introduced to curb inefficiencies and prevent unutilised funds from being rolled over annually.
According to her, MDAs are expected to execute projects, upload contractor details, and request payments directly from the system.
Mrs. Madein said some MDAs failed to comply with this policy, leading to delays in payment.
But senators argued that the centralised system had stifled progress instead of enhancing efficiency.
They insisted that delays in payments, even for completed projects, were unacceptable and reflected systemic inefficiencies.
The senators said MDAs should be given greater autonomy to manage their budgets while maintaining oversight to prevent misuse.
A member of the committee, Amos Yohanna (Adamawa North), summarised the issue, saying: “Federal Government revenue is suffering because budget performance is poor.
“Taxes remain low because payments are not made. We need a system that works.”
Mrs. Madein attributed the delays to two key factors: incomplete documentation submitted by MDAs and occasional shortfalls in available funds.
“When MDAs meet all system requirements, funds should be released without delay,” one committee member said, urging the office of the AG-F to address these issues urgently as the country approaches the end of the fiscal year.