The Senate through its Committee on Finance has vowed to amend the Fiscal Responsibility Act to curb frivolous spending of gross incomes and operational surpluses allegedly being made by many of the revenue generating agencies of government.
Making the vow during an interface with heads of National Metrological Development Agency (NMDA) and Federal Government Staff Housing Loan Board on Monday, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Olamilekan Adeola (APC Lagos West) said the Fiscal Responsibility Act must be amended to curb wastages by most of the government Ministries, Departments and Agencies ( MDAs).
This, he explained, will help in boosting revenues of government and financing of yearly budgets with less deficit margin and external borrowings.
He said: “The committee is forward looking to the upcoming amendment of Fiscal Responsibility Act before us to jerk up government revenue. The idea of 80% operational surplus is obsolete.
“The government has proposed 25%, but we are proposing 60% of your gross income to be deducted at source. So for every month, every revenue you generate before you spend out of it, we will take 60% of it. You are left with 40%.
“At the end of the year, after your account must have been audited, we will still come after your 80% operational surplus. This is what the committee is proposing.
“All the ideas of deducting depreciation, donations from organizations not approved, unwarranted expenditure, taken at a glance without revert back to government, fixing of arbitrary salary and commission that is not approved by National Salaries and Wages Commission, all of these will be put to an end by the forthcoming amendment to the Fiscal Responsibility Act”.
Senator Adeola had on Friday along with the Committee members met the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris and DG Budget Office, Mr Ben Akabueze in getting their full buy-in and brief them on the revelations unearthed during the over four weeks long investigations with many agencies committing all manner of illegalities relating to the expenditure of government funds that should rightly be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Most of the agencies he told them, abused the concept of operating surpluses to shortchange government as well as relying on ministerial circulars over and above the Constitution and FRA, 2007 as passed by the National Assembly.
There is no gainsaying the fact that if these revenues are paid to the CRF for proper appropriation by the Parliament during budget considerations, we are going to reduce dramatically the size of our deficit and hopefully minimise our borrowing.
” We cannot continue to run government business as we used to do in this time when there are huge demands for government to fund needed infrastructure and other socio-economic programmes,” he stated.
