By Mercy Aikoye
The House of Representives Committee on Finance has challenged all Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs of federal government, irrespective of mandates, to start thinking outside the box in raising revenue to argument the Consolidated Revenue Fund, if only to cover their running costs.
Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Finance Hon. Said Musa Abdullahi threw the challenge yesterday in continuation of interaction with the MDAs on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework MTEF prior to the commencement of the implementation of the 2024 budget.
Abdullahi tasked the Apex military Training Institution in the country, the National Defence College, to, inspite of the uniqueness of its mandate, explore available windows open to it to rake in money into the CRF.
This, according to the Committee’s deputy chairman the NDC can do by starting to charge appropriate fees for military officers and others that patronise the college from outside the country.
The Committee had earlier been told by the commandant of the NDC that top military brass from West African countries, the Filipines, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Germany have slots for regular trainings at the elite training institution.
Hon. Abdullahi was of the view that if Nigeria military officers that go on training outside the country, in most cases are charged fees, as nothing stops the Defence College from applying same to trainees from outside the country.
“The bottomline of MDAs earning Internally Generated Revenue IGR is in line with the present realities of dwindling government revenue needed to fund her budget.
“Emphasis on this is not just making money, but inculcating judicious expenditure of the percentage the law permits you to spend of your IGR, depending on whether your Department is fully funded by government or not.
He cautioned that in the quest of making money, MDAs should be conscious of their core mandates and not jeopardise standards.
At the end of a session with the National Universities Commission NUC also yesterday, Rep Abdullahi ruled that the Commission reconcile its mandate account over the past three years with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, with a view of paying into the CRF, what the deputy’s to chairman referred to as established financial infractions.
The Deputy Executive Secretary NUC had told the the committee that its only source of IGR was from payment of rents on my its properties, on which the NUC remits 25% into the CRF.
The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Finance Rep Said Musa Abdullahi who presided over Tuesday’s session pointed out error in NUC’s decision you remit 25% of its IGR into government coffers, instead of the approved 100% as contained in the latest circular.
Hon. Abdullahi noted that as a fully funded agency of government the law stipulates that 100% of any IGR by it must be paid into that CRF of government.
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