Govt Freezes MDAs’ Accounts Over Diversion Of Revenues

A period of reckoning is here for
all Federal Government's
Ministries, Departments and
Agencies ( MDAs) which have been
generating revenues and diverting
them instead of remitting them
into the Federal Government's
Consolidated Revenue Fund ( CRF)
Account maintained at the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
For such MDAs, their accounts at
both the CBN and banks across the
country are to be frozen until all their
obligations to the CRF are liquidated.
This is real and the enforcement
takes effect on June 17, 2013.
The action is being taken by the
Coordinating Minister for the
Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who Thursday
revealed that a preliminary search
had already identified N58 billion of
such funds by some MDAs which had
been kept away from the CRF.
The revelation is contained in a
statement by the minister herself
Thursday r in Abuja.
It reads in part: "It has come to the
attention of the Federal Ministry of
Finance that some Federal
Government's agencies that generate
independent revenue, in collusion
with some banks, have refused to
remit monies to the Consolidated
Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federal
Government which they are obliged
by law to do.
"We have identified about N58 billion
of such monies which rightfully
belongs in the CRF. This
unwholesome practice has persisted
despite the efforts of the Office of
the Accountant General of the
Federation (OAGF) to encourage the
agencies and the affected banks to
do the right thing.
"Rather than comply, the agencies
and banks, through their lawyers
have engaged in all manner of legal
subterfuges to ensure that monies
which are due to the Federal
Government are not remitted. The
objective of this conspiracy against
the national interest is clear: to keep
government monies indefinitely in
accounts earning interest for
individuals at the expense of the
Federal Government and the
Nigerian people.
"This is totally unacceptable and the
Federal Ministry of Finance is
determined that this practice must
end forthwith. Starting Monday, June
17, 2013, the Office of the Accountant
General of the Federation, in exercise
of its powers under the extant laws
and rules, will close the accounts of
agencies involved in this practice in
ALL banks.
"This process of systematic closure
will continue until all monies that
should be in the Consolidated
Revenue Fund are retrieved."
The action is part of the minister's
effort at curbing waste in the public
life and directing government's
scarce resources to fix critical
infrastructure for which the country
has always resorted to either
domestic or foreign borrowing to fix.
The action is coming on the heels of
a similar probe of banks collecting
the Federation Account revenue
from the Nigeria Customs Service
and the Federal Inland Revenue
Service belonging to the three tiers of
government which began last
month, owing to the establishment
of the fact that some of the revenues
were being diverted by the banks
with the connivance of officials of the
two revenue agencies. The report of
the probe is expected late August
this year.