Fed Govt to close revenue agencies’ bank accounts

Beginning from next Monday, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation will close the accounts of agencies, which have withheld the revenue that should have accrued to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stated this yesterday in a statement circulated to media houses.

She said: “Starting Monday, June 17, 2013, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, in exercise of its powers under the extant laws and rules, will close the accounts of agencies involved in this practice in all banks.”

The minister explained that “this process of systematic closure will continue until all monies that should be in the Consolidated Revenue Fund are retrieved”.

She said it has come to the attention of her ministry “that some Federal Government agencies that generate independent revenue, in collusion with some banks, have refused to remit monies to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federal Government which they are obliged t do by law”.
The Ministry of Finance, she said, has identified about N58 billion of such monies, which rightfully belongs in the CFR.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala added that “the objective of this conspiracy against the national interest is clear: to keep government monies indefinitely in accounts earning interest for individuals at the expense of the Federal Government and the Nigerian people”.

This practice, the minister stressed, “is totally unacceptable and the Federal Ministry of Finance is determined that this practice must end forthwith”.

According to her, this unwholesome practice “has persisted, despite the efforts of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to encourage the agencies and the affected banks to do the right thing”.

“Rather than comply, the agencies and banks, through their lawyers, have engaged in all manner of legal subterfuges to ensure that monies which are due to the Federal Government are not remitted,” she added.


The Nation