The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has stepped up efforts to block revenue loopholes and debt recovery drive.
The Director in charge of Special Projects in the ministry, Mr Victor Omata, stated this on Monday at the zonal sensitisation workshop in Kano.
The workshop was on the Federal government debt recovery drive through Project Lighthouse Programme.
Represented by deputy director special projects, Malam Mohammed Sa’idu, he said that the lighthouse initiative was initiated by the ministry to put an end to revenue leakages in the country.
According to him, over 5,000 companies and individuals spread across 10 Ministries Departments and Agencies are owing the Federal Government N5.2trillion.
He explained that the debt came to the spotlight from data aggregated from ongoing debt aggregation efforts from over 5,000 debtors across 10 MDA’s by the ministry.
“In a bid to block revenue loopholes and increase revenues, especially from non-oil sources, the Ministry initiated “Project Lighthouse”, which is one of the portfolio projects under the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI).
“This initiative has enabled the aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies who hitherto did not share data. Revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement,” he said.
Omata said that data from the initiative revealed that many companies and individuals, who owe government agencies, have refused to honour their obligations but were still being paid especially through the government platforms.
The director explained that debts were in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
According to him, part of measures taken by the Ministry to curb revenue leakages include; the issuance of a Ministerial directive on Sept. 26, 2019 to all MDAS.
The directive aims to aggregate all Government debt across the Public Finance space as well as to have a Single Window on the credit profiles.
“The Federal Executive Council (FEC) regulatory approval on Wednesday 31st March, 2021, to extend the functionalities of Debt recovery Capability of Lighthouse to enable the ministry fully automate the debt recovery process and make settlements of debts as seamless as possible,” he added.
He then charged stakeholders on providing quality and relevant information- debt-related- to support the Federal Government Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), in improving revenues by targeting and increasing non-oil sources.
Some of the participants who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) commended the ministry for organising the workshop and promised to step down the knowledge with others.
