Senate Committee To Work On Blocking Leakages In Government Finance

MICHAEL AKINOLA

The Senate Committee on Finance has set an agenda of blocking revenue leakages in public finances as a way of consolidating funds for needed social and infrastructure development as well as reducing deficit in yearly budgets.

Disclosing this over the weekend during the inaugural meeting of the committee, its Chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West), said the frequent lamentation of “no fund, no fund”  on needed capital projects in budget should be minimised if the Committee do its proper oversight work on all revenues accruing to the government from all sources beyond crude oil.

“As the nation approaches its 59th independence anniversary, we as a committee of the Senate are challenged to do the right thing to ensure that the government gets all its revenue for needed capital projects. We want to move away from the frequent complaints of “no fund, no fund”. The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, and many other government agencies generate huge sums of money but in most cases the funds are not applied according to the Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act” the Senator stated.

Senator Adeola told his committee members that the task ahead requires invitation of all revenue generating agencies to know the trends in their revenue generating efforts for the government over the years as a way of charting new heights and correcting anomalies of leakages where present adding that there is a need to look into such revenue heads as the pre-shipment inspection and how it is applied among other revenue sources of government beyond crude oil and taxes.

The Senator said the finances of Nigeria will improve significantly through blocking leakages and seeking new revenues sources adding that the Senate Committee will explore the possibility of an annual international Finance Lecture to be addressed by successful Ministers of Finance both at home and abroad and other financial experts on current trends as a way of addressing the challenges of finance in Nigeria.

He however, told his members that the first task of the committee in the 9th National Assembly is to quickly work on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (2020-2023) referred to it by the Senate with a deadline preparatory to the presentation of the 2020 Appropriation Bill by  President Mohammadu Buhari to the National Assembly.

Members of the 17-man committee in their contribution commended the choice of Senator Adeola as the Chairman of the important committee of “baking the national cake’’ based on his cognate experience in similar positions in Lagos State House of Assembly for 8 years and later as Chairman of the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee with overview of all Federal Government agencies.

Among members present were Senator Folarin (APC, Oyo South), Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), Senator Uche Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra Central), Senator Nicholas Tofowomo (PDP, Ondo South), Senator Ayo Akinyelure (PDP, Ondo Central) and Senator Abdullahi Sankara ( APC, Jigawa North West) among others.