Why FG took over revenue management of NNPC, NPA other ‘juicy’ agencies

By Philip Clement

As Nigeria battles funds paucity arising from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Government has announced the taking over of some of its ‘juicy’ revenue generation agencies.

The 10 government-owned enterprises (GOE) named in the first phase of the initiative are Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Others include Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC).

At the opening of a three-day orientation programme for 50 directors of revenue who are to be posted to various GOEs in Abuja, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said the initiative complied with Presidential approval conveyed via SGF’s circular reference SGF.50/S.3/C.9/24 dated 16th October 2018 on the approved Revenue Performance Management Framework for Government Owned Enterprises (FGOEs).

According to her, “government is increasingly concerned with the dwindling profile of Revenue and this trend has to be quickly arrested particularly with Key revenue-generating agencies of the Government.

“It is my considered opinion that the presence of Directors of Revenue at the FGOEs will ensure strict adherence to extant rules and regulations in the areas of compliance to approved budget and due process mechanism in procurement and payments.

“The Directors of Revenue, in the course of the discharge of their functions, shall be involved in the revenue operations of the FGOEs, have a better understanding of business processes and operations of the FGOEs and cause improved transparency and accountability in revenue reporting by the FGOEs.

“The Integrated Revenue Monitoring System is being put in place to help the monitoring of the revenues of the FGOEs online real-time and to ensure its improved transparency and accountability.

“This programme is designed as an orientation to the officers that will be posted as Directors of Revenues and is hoped that this will help them to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently and most importantly in utmost good faith.

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Earlier, Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris said the vision of this initiative is to achieve transparency and accountability of Government revenue with special focus on FGOEs improved revenue performance and ultimately to provide a sustainable source of funding for Government budget execution.

He, therefore, urged the participants to be active during the orientation programme.

Also in a remark, Secretary to Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustafa said the decision taken to boost the revenue base of Government was to post Professional Treasury Officers to select FGOEs will among others enable the Treasury to have a better understanding of the business processes and operations of the FGOEs.

“This will help in the review of the current systems, policies and procedures in revenue administration and management,” he said.