By Sarauniya Usman, Abuja
The Federal Government, through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), is set to deploy Directors of Revenue to ten Federal Government Owned Enterprises (FGOEs) in the pilot phase of the exercise.
The Federal Government Owened Enterprises (FGOEs) to which the Directors of Revenue will be deployed in this first phase include: The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA).
Others are the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
In a statement signed and made available by the Director, Information, Press and Public Relations,Henshaw Ogubike,states that the full implementation of the pilot phase of deployment of the Directors of Revenue to the FGOEs was approved earlier in the year by the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed.
During an orientation programme for the Directors of Revenue in Abuja on Yesterday, the Minister said the initiative was in compliance with the Presidential approval that was conveyed through Secretary to the Government of the Federation’s (SGF’s) circular with reference SGF.50/S.3/C.9/24 of 16th October, 2018 on the approved Revenue Performance Management Framework for Government Owned Enterprises(FGOEs).
The Minister said the deploymēnt of Directors of Revenue to the Federal Government Owned Entities (FGOEs) was to fully explore the potentials of these Agencies as alternative sources of revenue.
On what is expected of the Directors of Revenue, the Minister said they will be involved in the revenue operations of the FGOEs, have better understanding of business processes and operations of the FGOEs and cause improved transparency and accountability in revenue reporting by the FGOEs.
Furthermore, they are expected to seek for opportunities and avenues for revenue improvements which is the ultimate aim of the Government.
She revealed that an Integrated Revenue Monitoring System was being put in place to help in monitoring the revenues of the FGOEs online real-time and to ensure its improved transparency and accountability.
In his opening remarks at the programme, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris FCNA said a Technical Committee was formed to ensure seamless implementation of the deployment of the Directors of Revenue.
“The Committee worked hard and recommended fifty Treasury officers at Directorate level across various MDAs for this programme and ten will be deployed to the selected FGOEs”, he said.
Idris reiterated that the vision of the initiative was to achieve transparency and accountability of Government revenue with special focus on FGOEs, improved revenue performance and ultimately to provide sustainable source of funding for Government budget execution.
He reminded the Directors of Revenue that they are ambassadors of the Treasury in the FGOEs, thus they should demonstrate highest level of professionalism and integrity in the discharge of this onerous task, consistent with the highest standard of service delivery.
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