Ministers Reveal Major Increase in Revenue Remitted to Federal Government
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, has announced a significant surge in revenue remitted to the Federal Government by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and government-owned enterprises (GOEs).
In February 2024, these entities remitted a combined N835.7 billion to the government’s coffers, representing a remarkable 441.78% increase from the N154.25 billion remitted during the same period in 2023.
Edun unveiled these figures during a presentation titled “Reconstructing the Economy for Growth, Investment and Climate Resilience Development” at the Lagos Business School Breakfast Club.
He attributed this substantial revenue boost to the government’s implementation of an automated twice-daily sweep of 50% of the internally generated revenue (IGR) from MDAs and GOEs, which commenced on January 2, 2024.
“There is an increasing revenue contribution of MDAs and GOEs, growing from N154.25 billion in February 2023 to N835.7 billion in February 2024 through an automated two-times daily sweep of 50% of their IGR since January 2, 2024,” Edun stated.
This move follows a directive issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance in December 2023, mandating all MDAs to remit 100% of their IGR to the Sub-Recurrent Account, a sub-component of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The government aimed to enhance revenue generation, fiscal discipline, accountability, transparency in financial resource management, and curb waste and inefficiencies through this measure.
Augmenting revenues forms a crucial part of the government’s comprehensive execution strategy to achieve a 78% year-on-year increase in budgeted revenue for 2024, according to the finance minister. Implementing an upgraded government revenue assurance model is critical to reducing the budget deficit from 6.1% of GDP in 2023 to 3.9%.
Additionally, Edun highlighted the government’s efforts to increase the pricing of government securities, which has successfully attracted dollar inflows, albeit at a higher cost. The revamped process for commencing 2024 capital expenditure payments directly to contractors, coupled with prudent measures to minimize redundancy and reduce leakages through digitization, were also underscored.
“We have taken prudent expenditure measures by minimizing unnecessary redundancy, reducing leakages through digitization, and eliminating inefficiencies,” Edun said. “There is also a revamped process for commencing 2024 capital expenditure payments for MDAs and GOEs, which is through direct payments to contractors while promoting a government-wide cost curtailment culture across all MDAs and GOEs.”
