Members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Finance have chided the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) for under- remitting its internally generated revenue into the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the past three years.
This is as the Deputy Chairman, Committee on Finance, Hon. Seidu Abdullahi expressed his worry during the resumed interactive session with revenue-generating agencies on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) at the National Assembly Complex on Tuesday.
In his reaction to the criticisms, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Commission, Noel Salihu informed the committee that the commission’s only IGR source was from the payment of rents on its properties, noting that from it, NUC makes 25 per cent payment into the consolidated fund.
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Taking exception to this explanation, Rep.Abdullahi on behalf of the committee urged the commission to comply with the latest circular which mandates all MDAs to remit 100 per cent of their IGR to the government provided they are funded by the government.
Subsequently, Abdullahi mandated the commission to reconcile its mandate account over the past three years with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to facilitate payment into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
In the same vein, the Committee directed all MDAs to devise legitimate means of generating revenues to cover their running costs.
Abdullahi, while leafing through the National Defence College financial records, stressed the need for the institution to explore other opportunities to generate funds and contribute to the national purse, particularly by charging appropriate fees from military officers and others who patronize the college from outside the country.
“The bottom line of MDAs earning Internally Generated Revenue is in line with the present realities of dwindling government revenue needed to fund her budget.
“Emphasis on this is not just making money but inculcating judicious expenditure of the percentage the law permits you to spend on your IGR, depending on whether the government fully funds your Department or not,” he said.
