According to Nigeria’s Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), the Federal Government received N725 billion in total revenue in the first half of 2022.
The Commission’s Chairman, Chief Victor Muruako, revealed this on Monday in Lagos at the workshop on maintaining the benefits of fiscal openness and accountability amongst states.
Muruako revealed that the FRC increased the Federal Government’s independent revenue while carrying out its mandate.
The chairman of the commission said and I quote; “I can tell you that by 2020, the independent revenue of the Federal Government for that financial year was about N525 billion; FRC has been instrumental, working with other agencies and the National Assembly, to achieve an increase in the independent revenue of the Federal Government,”
This was achieved following the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, which mandates that government entities pay 80% of such revenues to the Consolidated Revenue Fund account, the Commission earned the revenues through interest on capital, dividends, and rental incomes.
The further prove his point, Muruako stated; “For the first time in the history of the country, its independent revenue exceeded the N1 trillion mark in 2021. This year, the Federal Government has already achieved N725 billion, from independent revenue, that is, half of the year, and we expect that the target for this year will still be achieved because most of the independent revenues usually come in between the third and fourth quarter.”
He concluded by advising states to explore more avenues toward boosting their revenue base, adding that many revenue sources have been left unexplored. He also noted that the Federal Government cannot be borrowing when citizens are expanding, hence the need for states to generate more revenue.
