The National Assembly has warned all the revenue generating federal
ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) engaging in diversion of
revenues to desist from the act.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sen. Solomon Adeola, gave
the warning after a meeting with the Chairman, House of
Representatives Committee on Finance.
Adeola, in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by his Media Adviser,
Chief Kayode Odunaro, said that the era of diversion of revenues
generated by MDAs was over.
According to him, the National Assembly will ensure that the Federal
Government generates enough revenue to implement people-oriented
policies and programmes.
โIt has been observed that year in year out, the Federal Government
has not been able to meet its targets on independent revenue sources.
โFindings indicate that the major culprit in this shortcoming is the
inadequacies of MDAs, coupled with their penchant for diversion of
revenue on recurrent expenditure under frivolous excuses,โ he said.
Adeola said that the National Assembly would not tolerate unauthorised
expenditure by the ministry of finance or agencies of government not
backed by law or relevant acts of the National Assembly guiding such
expenditure.
He said that every expenditure must henceforth be in compliance with
the Fiscal Responsibility Act and other applicable laws in Nigeria.
โReports show that over the years, the Federal Government has not been
able to surpass 30 per cent of its revenue targets.
โThis has resulted in low level of budget implementation for critical
capital projects.
โWe need to reverse this trend. Indeed, we intend to introduce
quarterly review of targets so that needed revenue can come to the
federal purseโ he stated.
