TheCable

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) says it has overseen the payment of N1.57 trillion from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) operating surplus over the years into the consolidated revenue fund (CRF).

Victor Muruako, FRC chairman, said this during a workshop on the Fiscal Responsibility Act organised for the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) in Lagos on Thursday.

Murako, however, said that the commission is still battling with a shortfall of about N1.5 trillion.

He also said the FRC faces challenges in the verification of capital projects despite its achievements.

“Another cogent oversight function of the FRC which has revealed so much about cutting corners by government agencies is the capital project monitoring exercise of the commission, which seeks to crosscheck actual job delivery against fund releases by the agencies,” he said.

“This is because relying only on the report of the budget office of the federation has not helped matters particularly because mostly the budget office of the federation looks at the percentage of funds released to contractors.

“Unfortunately, the lack of punishment in the Act has caused compliance challenges and given room for agencies to advance excuses over total commitment to the letters of the law.

“However, an on-going amendment of the Act at the National Assembly, for which there has been a public hearing by the Senate, is already addressing shortcomings in a new zeal by the government to strengthen the FRC.”

Muruako asked the NSC to build its capacity and improve on remitting its operating surplus in a timely manner or be shamed.

He also warned other government agencies to likewise remit their operating surpluses, adding that FRC was beefing up its monitoring activities to ensure compliance.

In May, the commission announced that 32 MDAs failed to remit over N1.2 trillion of their operating surplus to the federal government.