Treasury owed N5.2tr debt amid depleting revenue
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Individuals and corporate entities are owing the treasury N5.2 trillion in tax debt to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), refunds of money collected for projects not delivered, and several other forms.
Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said the debt is owed by over 5,000 companies and individuals.
She made the disclosure in Minna at a workshop on Project Lighthouse organised for ICT and account staff in federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) in the North Central.
Ahmed, represented by the ministry’s Special Projects Director Victor Omata, said the debt runs across 19 MDAs where the companies and individuals refuse to honour their obligations.
She cited the lack of transparency of transactions, poor information sharing, and enforcement as reasons for revenue loopholes.
“The ministry, through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application, has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion.
“These debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000+ debtors across 10 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). The debt aggregation effort is still ongoing,” Ahmed said, per reporting by The PUNCH.
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Sources of debt and means of recovery
“These debts are in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); refunds to the government by companies who failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been effected, unpaid credit facilities granted to both corporate entities and individuals by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BOA); judgment debt in favour of Government, debts owed Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) by Insurance Companies among others.”
According to Ahmed, Project Lighthouse enables aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies that hitherto did not share data.
“An important part of our policies and strategies is to leverage big data technology to help block revenue loopholes, recover debts, identify new revenue opportunities, optimise existing revenue streams, especially non-oil revenue as well as improve fiscal transparency.”
She implored MDAs to cooperate and provide quality and relevant debt-related information to populate the platform and improve national economic base.
Secretary to the Niger State Government, Ibrahim Matane, reiterated Project Lighthouse would cut excesses and recover money that would be spent on projects.