By Jonathan Lois
The Account-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, has stated that non-oil revenue has improved significantly in the past few months.
Madein said at the inaugural meeting of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance at the Natiinal Assembly.
She however did not provide statistics to reflect this improvement.
The AGoF said, “the non-oil revenue has tremendously improved in the last few months which have been helping in the kind of inflows that comes to the federation account and we are also expecting them to do more and better likewise all other agencies.”
The Accountant-General also said her office would begin the automation of its processes by December this year to avoid revenue loses or divertion.
She was responding to queries about why they were still carrying out their operations manually.
She said, “improving revenue reconciliation is on-going; it used to be manual, which makes it very tedious.
“We are working on having access to the systems. We are even having a series of systems of being deployed, Revenue Monitoring Information System and also the reconslication system.
“They are working on them. We will expedite action to ensure those systems become operational before the end of the year. So that the reconciliation would be much easier than it used to be.”
On revenue leakages due to waivers and tax incentives among others, she said her office has no power to do anything about it.
“They hardly refer to the Office of the Accountant General. We do not even get involved in the process. It is when they make payment and the agency presents it side-by-side to explain how they come about the revenue that we would see whatever waivers that had been granted. So that leaves us with no other option than to accept the figures.”
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. James Faleke, said they will be addressing the revenue and fiscal aspects of the various Ministries Departments and Agencies through effective oversight and legislation on the fiscal policies that will provide effective revenue generation and economic development.
“Over the past four years, the House Committee on Finance has been at the center of this and we shall continue to do the same in our bid to shore up the revenue fortune of the nation,” he said.
