Abuja, Feb. 14, 2023 – About 5,000 companies and individuals across 10 ministries, departments and agencies are owing the Federal Government over N5.2 trillion.
Mr Victor Omata, the Director, Special Projects in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, said this at the just concluded Zonal Sensitisation Workshop in Kano State.
The workshop was on government’s debt recovery drive through Project Lighthouse Programme.
He said that the lighthouse initiative was initiated by the ministry to put an end to revenue leakages in the country.
Omata said that data from the initiative revealed that many companies and individuals had refused to honour their debt obligations, but were still being paid, especially through the government platforms.
The director explained that debts were in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
According to him, part of measures taken by the ministry to curb revenue leakages include the issuance of a ministerial directive on September 26, 2019 to all MDAS.
“The directive aims to aggregate all Government debt across the public finance space as well as to have a single window on the credit profiles.”
Omata charged stakeholders to provide quality and relevant information on debts to support the Nigerian Government Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP in improving revenues by targeting and increasing non-oil sources. (GBN)
