The Federal Ministry of Finance has successfully recovered more than N57 billion out of the staggering N5.2 trillion in unpaid debts owed by various government agencies.
Aisha Omar, Director Special Projects in the Federal Ministry of Finance, made this known to the public during a workshop on the Debt Recovery Initiative of the Federal Government held in Enugu for South-East region. This was part of Project Lighthouse Programme.
This amount was revealed by Mrs. Bridget Molokwu, Deputy Director Special Projects, as outlined at the opening ceremony of this workshop which was identified through comprehensive data from over 5,000 debtors that were scattered among 93 ministries, departments and agencies.
However no specific figures were given at that time even though it is said that more recoveries have been made.
According to the ministry, these debts are mainly tax liabilities due to Federal Inland Revenue Service and they have confirmed recovery of N57billion.
Molokwu added that the Ministry has also processed refunds from companies who did not meet their contractual obligations for projects despite getting payments.
Regarding the issue of refunds, she also pointed out that it included unresolved credit extended by Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture to different businesses as well as individuals, government judgment debts, and amounts still due from insurance firms to Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate among others.
According to her, this has usually been made worse by poor information sharing mechanisms and weak enforcement structures resulting in gaps in revenue collection.
“I can say that with the help of our Debt Analytics and Reporting Application (DARA), the Ministry has been able to accumulate a huge amount of debt approximately N5.2 Trillion. An ongoing effort to compile debts have yielded about N57 Billion so far because of cooperation between all the stakeholders and Federal Government,” she said.
Moreover, data from Project Lighthouse has revealed that many entities or persons who owe money to various government agencies continue receiving payment even when GIFMIS, Treasury Single Account and other Government platforms are not transparent
To meet its debt recovery targets, the Federal Ministry of Finance launched ‘Project Lighthouse,’ which involves obtaining key economic and financial information from different agencies within the country.