THE Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed has raised an alarm that some individuals and companies that owe the FG to the tune of over N5.3 trillion have refused to pay up their debts.
The Minister who disclosed this during a two-day sensitization workshop on Project Lighthouse organized for ICT and account staff in federal ministries also confirmed the debt in question was being owed by over 5,000 companies and individuals.
The defaulting companies and individuals cut across 19 ministries, departments and agencies and have refused to honor their obligations according to the report.
Speaking through the Director of Special Projects in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Victor Omata, the Minister also mentioned that some issues like the lack of visibility of the transactions, poor information sharing, and enforcement had hampered the smooth investigations of the debts and had also created loopholes for revenue loses for the FG.
“The ministry, through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application, has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion. These debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000+ debtors across 10 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). The debt aggregation effort is still ongoing”
Omata further added that the information on the debtors was made possible through the Project Lighthouse initiative as it enabled the aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies that had failed to share data before now.
“An important part of our policies and strategies is to leverage big data technology to help block revenue loopholes, recover debts, identify new revenue opportunities, optimize existing revenue streams, especially non-oil revenue as well as improve fiscal transparency”, he stated.
Omata further called on the cooperation of the relevant government MDAs in providing quality and relevant debt-related information to populate the platform, adding that such cooperation would help improve the economic base of the country. (NAN)
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