Fed Govt recovers N57bn out of N5.2tr owed by MDAs, others
By Patience Ikpeme
Federal Government has recovered N57 billion from the N5. 2 trillion owed it by 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) through project light house.
Project light house which is managed by the federal ministry of finance has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion by 10 MDAs through the combined efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application, aided by stakeholders and federal government support.
This disclosure was made by the Director Special Projects Federal Ministry of Finance, Aisha Omar, during a one day sensitization programme for the North-East Geopolitical Zone ; programme on Federal Government’s debt recovery drive through the project lighthouse, on Tuesday in Gombe state.
Aisha Omar disclosed that these debts gained attention from data accumulated from over 5,000+ debtors across 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and that the accumulation exercise is still on going .
Aisha Omar who was represented by the a Deputy Director in Special Projects Department Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Bridget Molokwu disclosed that, “Project light house initiative was designed to help solve the intractable and perennial problem of debt recovery by using big data analytics technology”.
She also stated that “the core focus of project lighthouse is to leverage on big data technology to help block revenue loopholes, identify new revenue opportunities, optimize existing revenue streams especially non-oil revenue as well as improve fiscal transparency”.
Aisha Omar further stated that ” the essence of the initiative was the recovery of debt owed to the Federal Government by individuals and companies through the debt recovery capability of project light house engine” .
She also noted that the system in order to create insightful information for improved decision making on debt recovery, collects analyses and integrates data from revenue generating agencies.
Aisha Omar further disclosed that ” data from project Lighthouse Programme revealed that many companies and individuals who owed government agencies and refused to honour their obligations were still being paid especially through the government platforms such as GIFMIS and Tresury Single Account (TSA) due to lack of visibility ovr such transactions”.
Aisha explained that the “debts were in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); refunds to the Government by companies which failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been effected, unpaid credit facilities granted to both corporate entities and individuals by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BOA). Others were judgment debt in favour of Government, debts owed Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) by insurance companies among others”
” The Ministry has taken steps to address the major loopholes some of which included: the issuance of a Ministerial directive on 26th September 2019 to all MDAs with a view to aggregate all government debts across the Public Finance Space, to have a single window on credit profile of the Federal Government and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) regulatory approval on Wednesday 31st Match 2021, extension of the functionalities of debt recovery capability of the Lighthouse Project Programme” she said.
Aisha Omar added that the above measures would enable the Ministry fully automate the debt recovery process and make settlement of debts seamless.
She urged the participants to cooperate and show commitment in providing quality and relevant information (debt-related) to populate the platform , and how their organizations will benefit from the produce of the initiative.
Aisha Omar assured participants that “it is her firm believe that together we can dramatically change our revenue story by fully and innovatively exploiting the great power of Big Data Analytics, Data Science and related technologies”.
Aisha stated that the essence of the workshop was to train officers on how to go about debt recovery, therefore, urging stakeholders to put in their best to ensure a successful implementation of the initiative.
“Debt recovery will reduce the country’s indebtedness, tract day-to-day revenue leakages and loopholes” adding that project Lighthouse initiative has come with the recovery process , she said.
Also speaking earlier at the event, the project consultant, Dr Abraham Atteh, stated that project Lighthouse initiative was all about debt recovery through the use of technology.
He explained that government was putting every technology in place to recover it’s debts owed by both private and corporate entities, adding that those categories of debtors would be tracked using existing technology.
