President Muhammadu Buhari has emphasised that heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that generate revenue would be severely sanctioned if they don’t meet their targets.
This was disclosed by the President during the the signing of the 2021 Appropriation Bill of N13.588 trillion and the 2020 Finance Bill in Abuja, on Thursday.
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Buhari stated that Nigeria aimed to step up local revenue generations to fund its budget, and urged MDA heads to meet the objectives.
“We are intensifying our domestic revenue mobilisation efforts so that we can have adequate resources to fund the 2021 Budget.
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“Revenue generating agencies and all MDAs must work very hard to achieve their revenue targets, control their cost-to-revenue ratios, as well as ensure prompt and full remittance of revenue collections.
“Relevant agencies are to ensure the realisation of our crude oil production and export targets. Heads of defaulting Agencies are hereby warned that they will be severely sanctioned.
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“I also appeal to our fellow citizens and the business community to fulfil their tax obligations promptly,” he said.
The President added that despite the pandemic, Nigeria was able to meet 97.7% of its 2020 budget targets.
“In spite of the adverse impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s economy and government’s revenues, we have made appreciable progress in the implementation of the 2020 Budget.
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“As at Dec. 2020, we had released about N1.748 trillion out of a total of the N1.962 trillion voted for the implementation of critical capital projects, representing a performance of about Eight-Nine-Point-One Percent (89.1%).
“The overall performance of the 2020 Budget currently stands at an impressive rate of 97.7%.
“This commendable outcome underscores the importance of our efforts, together with the Legislature, to return to the discipline of a January-to-December fiscal year.”
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What you should know
Nairametrics reported that President Muhammadu Buhari had signed the 2021 Appropriation Bill of N13.588 trillion into law on 31st December 2020.
Bottom line
The task of forcing MDA Heads to generate revenue or face sanctions could ultimately lead to some hazards in the ease of doing business, because they might introduce levies or taxes in areas of the economy they regulate, which would be unfavourable to investors/stakeholders.
