The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning said a total of N58 billion, out of N5.2 trillion being owed by over 7,000 debtors to 11 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government have been recovered in three years.
The Director, Special Projects in the ministry, Mr Victor Omota, made the revelation during the South -South Zonal Sensitisation Workshop on Federal Government debt recovery drive through Project Lighthouse on Tuesday in Asaba, Delta.
“It may interest you to note that the ministry through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion.
“These debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 7,000 debtors across 11 MDAs. The debt aggregation effort is still ongoing,” he said.
He urged MDAs to also embrace the Federal Government’s debt recovery policy to improve government revenues.
Omota, who was represented by Mrs Bridget Molokwu, a Deputy Director, said the project was designed by the federal government through collaboration with the 946 federal MDAs, to recover all debts owed and to block the revenue leakages.
The director said efforts were being intensified to track all the debts owed the MDAs by its clients to ensure improved revenue to the government.
“You will recall that one of the key economic policy objectives of the current administration is improving Federal Government revenues by targeting and increasing revenues from non-oil revenue sources.
“An important part of our policies and strategies is to leverage big data technology to help block revenue loopholes, identify new revenue opportunities, optimize existing revenue streams..
“In actualising this goal, 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,” he said.
According to him, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement.
“Data from Project Lighthouse revealed that many companies and individuals who owe government agencies, have refused to honour their obligations.
” In spite of the debt, the debtors were still being paid, especially through the government platforms such as GIFMIS and Treasury Single Account (TSA) due to lack of visibility over these transactions.
“These debts are in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); refunds to the Government by companies who failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been effected,“ he said.
He noted that the ministry collaborating with the MDAs would promptly help to recover these debts and address these major revenue loopholes.
Omota said the government had issued a ministerial directive on Sept. 26, 2019 to all MDAs, with a view to aggregate all Government debt across the Public Finance Space, as well as a single window on the credit profile of the Government.
