There is the need to overhaul the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2007 so it can block the huge leakages caused by certain sections and subsections of the Act. Section 22(1) mandates all the revenue-generating ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to remit 80% of their operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account. This allows these MDAs to fraudulently resort to driving their so-called operating costs very high, and consequently declare close to zero operating surpluses; as a result, 80% of their remittance to government treasury becomes close to zero naira.
This singular lacuna has enabled revenue-generating MDAs to have reportedly generated N3.06trillion in 2009, but only remitted N46.80billion to government coffers; generated N3.07trillion in 2010, but remitted a mere N54.10billion; and generated N3.17trillion in 2011 and just remitted a meagre N73.80billion. Most unbelievable was the case of the NNPC and its subsidiaries, which having internally generated N6.132trillion between 2009 and 2011 remitted zero naira to the government treasury.
Another accounting fraud was the one allegedly committed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which had two different audited accounts — one with lower figures sent to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) and another with higher figures sent to the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAGF).
Another serious accounting fraud discovered during a close examination of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) presentation was how, in its 2009 audited accounts, N5.6million was found in the audited account forwarded to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission while N323million was found in the same audited account it sent to the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation…
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