MDAs and 7,000 entities owe treasury, part reason Nigeria’s debt is growing
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria’s debt totalled N42.84 trillion in the second quarter of this year (Q2 2022), and is growing, partly because 11 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and more than 7,000 corporate and private firms owe the treasury N5.2 trillion.
Muhammadu Buhari has already piled up over $40 billion debt for his successor to pay and is set to borrow more before his tenure expires on 29 May 2023.
The sum owed Abuja is contained in a report presented by the Senior Development Consultant to the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Abraham Atteh, at a workshop in Lagos organised by the ministry under its Project Lighthouse programme
Atteh explained the programme focuses on recovering debt owed the treasury by revenue generating MDAs and corporate and private firms.
Finance Ministry Information and Press Director Phil Abiamuwe-Mowete said Project Lighthouse is a “data driven artificial intelligence engine that provides the ministry with intelligence and profiling platform to aid in policy formulation, implementation and the assessment of the impacts of those policies.
“Project Light-House would support MDAs in developing a more efficient revenue assessment method by ensuring that major revenue loopholes are plugged and revenue collection is dramatically improved.”
Victor Omata, Finance Ministry Special Projects Director, reiterated one of the key policy objectives in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan is improving revenue by targeting and increasing non-oil sector intakes, per reporting by The PUNCH.
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Nigeria lifts revenue 3.28% to N1.26tr
Federal treasury revenue rose 3.28 per cent month-on-month (MoM) from N1.22 in June to N1.26 trillion in July, boosted by intakes from three agencies, but the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) again failed to remit even one kobo.
A report by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) said the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) remitted N292.8 billion in July and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) N190.26 billion.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) collected N191.7 billion as oil sector taxes and the non-oil sector fetched N444.65 billion, the highest amount in July.
Value Added Tax (VAT) brought in N190.26 billion, down from N208.15 billion in June.
However, for the seventh month running, the NNPC failed to contribute revenue to the Federation Account, again claiming subsidy payments eroded oil gains.
