AHMED Idris, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) has decried the poor remittance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Lamido Yuguda, Director-General of SEC, had disclosed that out of the N4 billion revenue generated by the Commission in 2019, only N86.835 million was remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Yuguda revealed this while submitting 2021 revenue projections for SEC at the public hearing on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).
But while sharing the Commission’s performance index, the Accountant General stated that the remittance of N86.835 million out of N4 billion revenue generated was low, stressing that SEC would need to make up for it.
“The least of such remittances expected from the SEC from N4 billion revenue is N846 million, meaning that the agency owes the Federal Government N760 million,” Idris said.
The Commission was also queried by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning for spending N10.3 billion in a year for the payment of salary of about 600 staff.
Adeola Olamilekan, the Chairman of the Committee noted that spending over N10 billion for salaries of 600 staff meant that each staff of the agency collects an average of N15.7 million annually, describing it as an overreach.
He further directed that the Commission must remit not less than N1 billion into the CRF in 2021
“SEC should not pay less than N1 billion to the CRF account in 2021. You have a staff strength of 600 and a wage bill of N10.3 billion annually, amounting to N15.7 million per person annually. You are indeed, top heavy. You have to work on this,” Adeola said.
The Committee directed SEC to remit N300 million into the CRF by next Thursday.
The 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP was sent to the Senate on July 20, for consideration by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has warned that the Nigerian economy may likely fall into another recession, unless there is a strong economic performance in the third quarter of 2020.
Clement Agba, the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, disclosed this at the start of a five-day interactive session on the 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP.
Seun Durojaiye is a journalist with International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).