Senate calls for timely remittance of funds by revenue agencies

THE Senate on Wednesday urged revenue collecting agencies to ensure timely transfer of funds collected into the Federation Account.

Senate President Dr Ahmad Lawan made the call in Abuja at a meeting with some of the revenue collecting agencies.

Lawan also called for timely disbursement of funds to federal, states and local government councils after monthly allocation meetings.

The agencies present at the meeting include Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) among others.

He said timely collections and disbursement of funds would determine the attainment of the next levels of agenda of the federal government.

He said the Senate is committed to passing the 2020 budget before the end of 2019, adding that timely disbursement funds would also facilitate the implementation of the budget.

He said the Senate would look into factors militating against the timely transfer of funds into the federation account.

He said the late transfer of funds affect the speedy implementation of the budget and ultimately stall the development of economic activities.

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Lawan said the Senate is determined to serve Nigerians, adding the National Assembly is ready to help resolve challenges affecting the agencies.

“We have been voted to make Nigerians feel the impact of government, the economy must work, and it will work when collections and disbursement of funds are made.

“But we are going to insist that the right things are done, the right thing is that you transfer the money in good time.

“Call FACC meeting at the right time, Federal Ministry of Finance should disburse the resources to the MDAs at the right time,” Lawan said.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)  urged the Senate to ensure adequate funding of the oil and gas sector to guarantee sustainable revenue flow from the sector.

Group Managing Director of the NNPC Mallam Mele Kyari stated that NNPC has introduced various projects aimed at integrating the oil and gas industry with the economy and called for more funding to achieve a sustainable growth in the industry.

He also solicited the support of the Senate to curb cross-border smuggling of petroleum products, especially petrol, which he said was posing a challenge to the efforts of the corporation to ensure seamless supply and distribution of products in the counry.

He commended the Senate for its support which he said, enabled the corporation to offset its cash-call arrears.