FRC Vows to Recover Dubious Financial Losses Declared by Govt Companies
Remits N350bn to Federation Account Wants borrowing limit set for states
The acting Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Mr. Victor Muruako, yesterday vowed to revisit instances of deliberate financial losses declaration by governmentowned enterprises in the country.
Muruako argued that a lot of government agencies are deliberately hiding public funds and writing them off as losses.
He said should the commission be strengthened as well as survive the recent recommendation by the Orosanye committee for it to be scrapped, such premeditated losses by ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs) would “definitely have to be refunded.”
Speaking in Abuja during a joint press briefing with the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), ahead of a two-day national forum on the fiscal responsibility commissions holding next week, the acting FRC boss further stated that the commission had assessed and ensured remittance of over N350 billion operating surplus by scheduled corporations to the Consolidated Revenue Fund between 2009 and 2014.
He said given the attitude of government agencies in remitting their operational surpluses to the Federation Account as well as the current fiscal challenges caused by the sliding price of oil, the recent agitation for the scrapping of the FRC, was grossly misplaced.
He said: “In the emerging scenario, if this commission is strengthened, some of these agencies, some of them had the boldness to tell us that we would soon be scrapped: you would write them and they won’t respond-God willing, if this commission survives, and is strengthened, I am sure that all the government funds subsumed as losses in their annual financial statements; they’ll definitely have to be refunded.”
According to him: “There are a lot of other government agencies that are hiding government’s funds and writing them off as losses. We are shouting that we don’t have money to run government but the money is there. It’s just to allow and strengthen FRC to go and get the money for the government to carry out its developmental programmes.”
He also called on the incoming administration to take a look at the Fiscal Responsibility Act and ensure that all the three tiers of government comply with it.
Muruako further urged the federal government to set debt limits for public debts, stressing that “not fixing the debt limit would allow particularly states and local governments to exceed their limits because you can’t challenge them, the debt limits had never been fixed so you don’t know when they exceed their borrowing capacity.”
He said: “The best way to fight corruption is by prudence, fiscal efficiency and bringing about a stronger fiscal responsibility agency not just at the national level but also to encourage the governors; let that regime of fiscal efficiency get down to states because how governors are plunging their states into debts...you find a lot of governors going to borrow money which they don’t need; raising bonds and all that...even as we are talking, some state governors are going to borrow even with few days to the end of their tenure. What are we talking about?”
Continuing, he said: “So the easiest way to fight corruption is to strengthen this commission and ensure that every state, in fact every local government has their own fiscal responsibility agencies. We are asking that the incoming administration should specifically pay attention to strengthening this commission and this commission would bring funds for the operation of the government.”
On the upcoming forum, he said the commission believed that with this collaborative efforts with the center for social justice, “we are able to get the states to buy into this new regime of fiscal prudence, it would go long way in stabilising our economy.”
World Bank Country Director, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly and Senior Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gene Leon are expected to give keynote addresses at the programme.