TheCable

Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation, says the nation’s revenue generation is dwindling while expenditure is on the rise.

Madein spoke on Wednesday at an interactive session on the 2024-2026 medium-term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper (MTEF/FSP) organised by the house of representatives committee on finance.

The accountant-general said a “series of efforts “ are being made to block revenue leakages and increase revenue generation.

“The revenue generation and its collection is dwindling in comparison with the expenditure set against the money collected,” she said.

“But currently, a series of efforts are ongoing to shore up revenue, block the leakages and improve on the revenue that is being brought into the federation.

“Inasmuch as the revenue is in this position, the expenditure too has not also been helping matters, especially with the current economic reality where the prices of things are going up regularly.

“The expenditure too is on the rise and definitely the strategies to increase revenue must be worked upon on a continuous basis to ensure that we are having funds to meet the expectations of Nigerians.”

Madein asked the committee to “assist” the accountant-general office and revenue generation agencies “with all the plans, strategies, ideas” to support the efforts to increase revenue generation.

‘WE WON’T ACCEPT REVENUE LAXITY IN REVENUE GENERATION’

James Faleke, chairman of the committee, said revenue shortfall caused the government to operate a deficit budget over the years.

This, he said, has resulted in both domestic and foreign borrowing to implement the expenditures in the budget.

“This continuous borrowing due to these budget deficits has ballooned our debt servicing payments to the sad situation where last year we spent over 95% of our revenues on debt servicing,” he said.

“The committee will not accept such laxity on the part of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in not negotiating the best for the country.

“The $11 billion P&ID fiasco is still fresh in our minds where the whole country was almost held hostage to a fraudulent agreement.

“Another agreement signed on behalf of the government by NBET and Azura Power has committed payments of over $30m per month. This agreement is dollar-denominated and applicable even now in times of acute foreign exchange shortages.”

Faleke said the committee is committed to ensuring value for money is attained in all government agreements.

“Our revenues have been reducing over the years due to decreases in oil revenues which used to be our major earner. The committee has vowed to get to the bottom of these oil shortfalls,” he said.

Faleke said the MTEF interactive session would continue on Thursday and agencies to appear before the committee include the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Federal Morgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Industrial Trust Fund (ITF), and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Others are the National Insurance Commission (NIC), the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

At the start of the interactive session, Faleke Faleke threatened to suspend the exercise because of the non-appearance of the ministry of budget and national planning.

“The ministry of budget and planning is the custodian of the MTEF. We expect them to be here. I hope they are on their way, if not, we might have to cancel all this hearing because they are the owners of this document. They must come and talk about this document. We cannot be shaving their heads behind them,” he said.

A representative from the ministry did not arrive at the interactive session by the time it concluded.