TheCable

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says it has recovered over N319 billion from unremitted funds by government agencies in the last two years. 

The RMAFC is a federal government agency responsible for mobilising and allocating revenue to the three tiers of government in Nigeria.

The commission also monitors the financial activities of the federal, state, and local governments to ensure that they are in compliance with the law.

Mohammed Shehu, chairman of the commission, in an interview with NAN in Abuja, said the agency had created committees to oversee revenue-generating bodies.

“That act of monitoring involves where to get the money from, to check and see whether revenue generating agencies, which are specifically mentioned in the Act, are living up to expectations,” he said.

“The law mandates the commission to have the power to request information from any revenue-generating agency.

“That means we have the right to go through the books of all government agencies to see the revenue they collected and what they remitted.

“We have committees for customs, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), crude oil, gas, special duties, and solid minerals. These committees are mandated to carry out monitoring activities across Nigeria.

“For instance, the customs committee usually goes to the customs services and other companies around the south-west, especially, where you have a heavy dose of manufacturing to look into their books.

“They do this in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service.”

He said the commission sometimes has to hire forensic experts or teams of consultants to investigate the finances of some complex agencies.

“Sometimes, they end up discovering huge sums of unremitted money,” he said.

“Within the last two years, we discovered over N319 billion that has been established and it has been remitted to the appropriate account of the federation.

“Sometimes, we collaborate with law enforcement agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“If there is an MDA or organisation that has established liability and has owned up to the liability and they decide not to pay, sometimes we request the services of EFCC and they have been helping.”