RMAFC remits over N704.2bn into Federation Account in five years

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has so far remitted over N704.2 billion in its attempt to expand the revenue accruals into the federation account in the last five years, the Chairman of the RMAFC, Engr. Elias Mbam has said.

Briefing journalists at the valedictory press briefing to signal the end of his tenure along with some members of the Commission in Abuja on Monday, Mbam said under his leadership the RMAFC achieved modest success.

Specifically, he said, the RMAFC has so far “expanded the sources of revenue to the Federation Account, with recoveries of over N704.2billion been made, revenue leakages were addressed, verification exercise is being carried out on the Collecting Banks and other Collecting Agencies. Generally, the Commission has addressed vigorously all its constitutional mandate.”

The Commission, Mbam observed, “periodically carried out monitoring and checks on the Revenue Collecting Agencies including Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development among others. It also conducted monthly post disbursement monitoring through post-mortem Sub-Committee of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). The Commission recovered over N704.2 billion Naira in the course of monitoring and checks within the period under review.”

In its attempt to minimise leakages, the Commission, Mbam disclosed, embarked on monitoring and reconciliation of collections and remittances by the Collecting Banks engaged by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS). The exercise is expected to be a continuous one and over N12.6billion has been established as liability while over N1.8billion has been recovered and remitted to the Federation Account in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“The Commission is also collaborating with FIRS for the reconciliation and recovery of large amount of Tax Liabilities by Federal MDAs, States, and Local Government Councils. Over N15 billion has been recovered in the exercise from the reconciliation of tax liabilities of States and Local Government Councils across the Country.”

Mbam also disclosed that the Commission has identified other Government Agencies that are supposed to remit their generated revenue to the Federation Account but are yet to comply. He identified the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), among others as government agencies that defaulted in making remittances to the FA.

The Commission boss also expressed concern that revenue from Stamp Duties in respect of electronic transfer running into billions of Naira “is not being remitted to the Federation Account. As a result, billions of Naira are being lost on a daily basis. I am happy to report that the process of correcting these anomalies has reached an advanced stage. Revenue from stamp duty is not generated and paid to the federation account. You know we have a clearing system where all transactions, electronic transactions go.”

The Commission, the RMAFC Chairman stated had “concluded the review of the subsisting Revenue Allocation Formula in 2014 and the Report is awaiting further necessary actions in line with the provisions of section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended). In other words, it is with the President waiting for him to forward it to the National Assembly.

The present formula, Mbam said has been in existence since 1992 but was only modified in 2002 by the then President to bring the provision in the Act to conform to the 1999 Constitution (As Amended).

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