By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government recorded a revenue inflow of N318.5 billion between January and March 2024, says the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein.
Mrs Madein made the disclosure when she appeared before an interactive session organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Wednesday.
The accountant-general, who was represented by the Director of Revenue Expenses, Mr Felix Ogundayero, said the reconciliation of revenue inflows was still ongoing, and what was declared was the figure presented to the committee.
“Reconciliation is still being done but the total revenue inflows to the federal government for January to March amounts to N318.5 billion as against a total budget of N2.691 trillion,” she said.
“For the budget, the bottom-up cash planning policy is on course and the 2024 budget is going to be implemented via that policy, officers have been retained and sensitisation is ongoing to ensure that MDAs are well equipped on the modalities and conditionalities,” she stated.
Mrs Madein said the revenue for 2024, will significantly increase due to the economic policies being implemented by the federal government.
Also addressing the committee, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Mr Armstrong Takang, said N101 billion has been declared as dividends by some agencies, noting that some agencies are yet to declare their dividends due to various factors.
“So far, we have received dividends declared by some companies. But for many others, their reports are either being prepared and have not been completed or have been completed but they have not gone to their boards for approval,” he said.
“As such, we cannot use the number of their dividends until that has been done based on the corporate governance rules.
“Based on the number so far, it is about N101 billion from the entities we have identified. We continue with other entities whose dividends have not been paid to ensure we go through the process of them passing it at the board level and the AGM before the figures are sent to us and the money rendered to the treasury,” he added.
In his response, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr James Faleke, said the purpose of the interactive session with heads of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) is to ensure that the revenue estimates submitted to the parliament by each agency before the passage of the 2024 appropriation bill into law are achieved.
“We have to ensure that those estimates are met. The appropriation has become a law and so that the revenue that you proposed to generate in the year we take it upon ourselves to do it quarterly to measure your performance.
“We want to ensure that revenue activities from January to March are in line with your appropriation. When you are giving us your figure — tell us what the figure was expected for the generation and what you have achieved. Also, tell us your expenditure.”
The committee ruled that all the agencies under MOFI should produce their annual report for the past 10 years.
“All organisations under MOFI should produce their annual report for the past 10 years and the dividend that ought to have been paid.
“What ought to have been paid, and what was paid by each of the agencies and of course evidence of payments,” he added.
Dipo Olowookere