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Partners ICPC, EFCC on recovering unremitted Federation Account accruals
BY COBHAM NSA – Robust initiatives at tackling Nigeria’s dwindling earnings have now put the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) on collision course with all revenue generating agencies defaulting in their remittances to the Federation Account.
And to make the erring agencies more accountable in their operations, RMAFC is collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) on a nationwide Verification and Reconciliation exercise aimed at tracing revenue inflows and remittances from relevant organizations to the appropriate government treasury.
The exercise, scheduled to commence in the first week of October 2020, will consider the period covering January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019.
Chairman of the Commission, Engineer Elias Mbam dropped the hints at the weekend in Abuja during an interactive session organized for consultants engaged to carry out the exercise.
He stated that the partnership with EFCC and ICPC is to provide close monitoring of the recovered funds accruing to the Federation account.
According to him, RMAFC will not renege on executing its mandate of monitoring all revenue accruals into the Federation Account and their disbursement as well as taking necessary steps to block leakages.
Engr Mbam also said their current moves are in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s charge to the Commission Chairman and Members that they deploy all legal ways and means to block revenue leakages and maximize revenue inflows to the Federation account.
The chairman however advised participating organizations to avoid joining issues with any defaulting agency but rather, submit their established reports to the Commission through the Project’s Coordinating Committee.
Speaking at the occasion, Acting Chairman of EFCC, Mr Mohammed Umar, lauded the RMAFC for finding it worthy to collaborate with EFCC in tracking and blocking revenue leakages while recovering all revenue accruable to the Federation account.
Represented by Hamza Abdulahi, the EFCC boss disclosed that the Commission has helped to recover more than three hundred billion naira in a similar collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
He therefore assured that EFCC will not compromise its impressive track record by ensuring every revenue defaulter is made to face the full wrath of the law.
In his remarks, RMAFC Secretary, Mr. M.B. Shehu reminded participating firms that the Federal Government attaches huge importance to revenue generation, especially given its dwindling revenue due to falling prices in the global oil market as well as the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
