Nigerian govt makes N1.4tn from surplus returned by MDAs

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) said the Federal Government has generated a total of N1.4 trillion through payment of operating surplus in 11 years.

It said the payment was done by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) since the Fiscal Responsibility Act was enacted in 2007.

The Acting Chairman of the commission, Victor Murako, made this known while briefing journalists on Thursday in Abuja.

Murako noted that before the introduction of the law, about 90 percent of the MDAs failed to make payment into the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government

He added that the introduction of the new template would boost finance base of the federal government and reduce the need to borrow.

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“Presently, there are 122 scheduled corporations listed under the Act. We have observed that most scheduled corporations were avoiding declaring surplus on their audited financial statements by indulging in creative accounting and incurring expenditures not included or above their annual appropriation,” he said.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 requires listed agencies to pay 80 per cent of their operating surpluses into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, while retaining 20 per cent.

The operating surplus is made up of revenues accruing to government agencies above what they are approved to spend at the beginning of the budget year.

Thirty agencies were originally listed in the Act. However, the addition of 92 more by the Ministry of Finance in an effort to shore up the revenues accruing to the government has brought the number of organisations required to pay operating surpluses to 122.




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