Over 5,000 debtors owe 10 FG agencies N4.67tn – Finance minister
April 12, 2022
The Federal Government has disclosed that over 5,000 debtors currently owe its agencies about N4.67tn.
The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who made the disclosure on Monday, said the government had in the past 18 months recovered N53.8bn out of the N5.2tn owed 10 ministries, departments and agencies.
The minister made the disclosure during the launch of the Project Lighthouse Debt Analytics and Reporting platform in Abuja.
She credited the project lighthouse and the collaborative efforts of the Office of the Account General for the discovery and recovery of the outstanding debts. Ahmed noted that in a bid to optimise revenue, the ministry had in 2017 introduced the ‘Project Lighthouse’ to mine data from multiple sources to support the implementation of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme.
According to her, the project seeks to, among other things, address issues surrounding the tracking and implementation of government policies, initiatives, programmes and mandates.
She said, “A perfunctory review of perceived significant leakages in government led the FMFBNP to issue a directive on September 26, 2019, to all government agencies in a bid to aggregate all government debts across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, with a view to having a single window on the credit profile of the government.Sequel to the issuance of the finance circular, the ministry through the consolidation efforts of the project, has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2trn.
“These debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000 debtors across 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
“Working in collaboration with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, we have been able to recover the sum of N53.5bn within the last 12-18 months, through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System as a recovery touchpoint.
“However, to consolidate on the current effort of this project, a debt recovery application has been built to be monitored by the new Debt Recovery Unit.”
About The Author
About the Author: Starnews NG
Related Posts
- FRSC seizes 222 trailers conveying 3,169 passengers The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) inter-agency task force has apprehended 222 trailers transporting 3,169 passengers across Niger, Bauchi, Taraba, and Kaduna states. The task force, established to curb the transportation of passengers alongside goods, aims to reduce road traffic accidents and associated casualties caused by the reckless conduct of trailer drivers. Corps Marshal Dauda Ali-Biu announced during a press briefing in Abuja that the initiative involves collaboration with various transport unions, security agencies, and traffic management authorities. “As part of the operations, the JTF dropped over 2,440 passengers who were mandated to take alternative vehicles designed for conveying passengers. “Since the commencement of the JTF on March 23, the monster of road traffic crashes involving trailers and the fatalities that come with them have been adequately tamed and the situation arrested on all fronts,” he said. Mr Ali-Biu added that the corps had gone a step further by prosecuting recalcitrant trailer drivers aside the conventional enforcement of traffic regulations. This, he said, was done through mobile courts in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. “Subsequently, more drastic measures, including suspension and withdrawal of the national driver’s licence, will be carried out. “Permit me to reiterate at this critical moment that, on our part, as an agency of government charged with road safety supervision, we have resolved to continue in our strive to make the nation’s highways safe. “Part of our resolve is to consolidate on the gains recorded so far through the strategic combat operations of the joint task force. “We have decided to sustain the tempo by extending the operations of the JTF to other critical corridors across the nation. “The essence of this extension is to give it a holistic approach,” the corps marshal said.
FRSC seizes 222 trailers conveying 3,169 passengers The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) inter-agency task force has apprehended 222 trailers transporting 3,169 passengers across Niger, Bauchi, Taraba, and Kaduna states. The task force, established to curb the transportation of passengers alongside goods, aims to reduce road traffic accidents and associated casualties caused by the reckless conduct of trailer drivers. Corps Marshal Dauda Ali-Biu announced during a press briefing in Abuja that the initiative involves collaboration with various transport unions, security agencies, and traffic management authorities. “As part of the operations, the JTF dropped over 2,440 passengers who were mandated to take alternative vehicles designed for conveying passengers. “Since the commencement of the JTF on March 23, the monster of road traffic crashes involving trailers and the fatalities that come with them have been adequately tamed and the situation arrested on all fronts,” he said. Mr Ali-Biu added that the corps had gone a step further by prosecuting recalcitrant trailer drivers aside the conventional enforcement of traffic regulations. This, he said, was done through mobile courts in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. “Subsequently, more drastic measures, including suspension and withdrawal of the national driver’s licence, will be carried out. “Permit me to reiterate at this critical moment that, on our part, as an agency of government charged with road safety supervision, we have resolved to continue in our strive to make the nation’s highways safe. “Part of our resolve is to consolidate on the gains recorded so far through the strategic combat operations of the joint task force. “We have decided to sustain the tempo by extending the operations of the JTF to other critical corridors across the nation. “The essence of this extension is to give it a holistic approach,” the corps marshal said.