From Lagos
Agencies and state-owned enterprises listed in the schedule of FRC have so far paid over N1.8trillion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) according to thehe Acting Chairman, Fiscal
Commission (FRC), Mr Victor Muruako.
He said FRC led the agencies to pay N1.8trillion the said revenue into Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Muruako made the disclosure at the one day training organised by FRC in collaboration with Brevic Consultants and Investment Ltd.as well as the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in Lagos on Monday.
The acting chairman added that the amount was the operating surplus of 80 per cent of yearly operations of the agencies and the enterprises concerned, listed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) schedule of 2007.
The Reporters,an online recalls that the late President Umar Yar’Adaua signed FRA into law in 2007 while the Commission was inaugurated in 2008.
The Act mandates the Commission to strive in promoting prudent management of the nation’s resources, ensuring long-term macro-economic stability as well as transparency in fiscal operations of the nation’s economy.
Muruako described FRC as an institutional response to the quest for a regime of prudent, ethical and efficient management of public finances at all tiers of the government in the country.
According to him,the signing into law of the Act is aimed at ensuring the dream of the nation and instilling a new transparency and accountability framework on a continuous basis.
Muruako explained that the inauguration of the commission had enabled public finance management to be more positive, transparent and prudent.
“The Commission has reformed the budgetary process through the introduction of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). This is being put in place to link policy, planning and budgeting over the medium-term three years at best.
“In order to ensure that the FRA 2007 was adhered to, the Commission had to devise alternative strategies to nudge the MDAs to discharge their functions.
“This is through stakeholders’ interactions and bilateral engagements, geared toward increasing awareness and understanding the requirements of the FRA, 2007.
“The key areas traditionally monitored include: Preparations and approval of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF); Preparation and approval of the Annual Budget (Appropriation Acts; Execution of the budget and publication of Budget Implementation Reports (BIR),” he said.
Muruako also identified other areas as: Determination (and monitoring of) appropriate Operating Surpluses due for payment by scheduled corporations, into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government; Savings and assets management; and Revenue Monitoring.
The Commission, he further revealed, had also developed a Template for the calculation of Operating Surplus, approved by the Minister of Finance, with a issued a circular in that respect four years ago.
He said the commission was working toward recommending more agencies for addition to the Schedule with a view to looking critically at some of them that might be removed from the list.
This,the acting chairman,said was necessary for certain considerations relating to their operations and the welfare of the Nigerian people.
He, however, noted that the Commission had not got enough support to push up the template and engage thes the Nigerian Railway Corporation and other agencies, on what constitutes Operating Surplus.
The acting chairman, however,expressed optimism that the event would help proffer solution to the problem.
Maruako said that the situation, presently, was not the best of time for Nigerian Economy, particularly as the nation struggled to recover from the debilitating challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, which took the whole world unawares.
He said that in spite of the fact that COVID-19 took the world unawares with the challenges affecting every country, the Commission had been getting every hand on deck in ensuring that “Nigeria do not fall back into recession the second time.”
He lauded President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi for making it possible for the Commission to carryout its functions diligently.
The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mr Fidet Okhiria, said that the Federal Government was investing heavily on railway infrastructure, a development he noted made imperative for NRC to shown capacity in all feats to manage and maintain the huge investment.
Okhiria, who was represented by the Director, Operations of NRC, Mr Niyi Ali, said that NRC aimed at becoming a World Class Rail Transport Organisation.
He said actualising this objective it had been providing safe, efficient, affordable,reliable, widely linked network, customer-oriented services among other missions.
Okhiria urged participants to take full advantage of the programme to acquaint themselves of more knowledge in government policies, business and transcend and extend the knowledge to their colleagues to boost productivity.
