Report shows 7000 firms, MDAs owe FG N5.2tn

A new report by the Federal Ministry of Finance has shown eleven ministries, departments and agencies of the government as well as over 7000 corporate and private entities currently owe the Federal Government the sum of N5.2tn.

Details of the report were presented on Tuesday in Lagos by the Senior Development Consultant to the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Abraham Atteh, during a sensitisation workshop organised by the ministry under its Project Lighthouse programme, Punch reports.

According to Atteh, the programme focused on the debt recovery drive of the Federal Government.

Highlighting the debt portfolio, the report showed that over 7000 corporate and private entities as well as 11 agencies of the government owed the Federal Government N5.2tn.

The Director for Information and Press, Federal Ministry of Finance, Phil Abiamuwe-Mowete, described the Project Lighthouse as a “data driven artificial intelligence engine that provides the ministry with intelligence and profiling platform to aid in policy formulation, implementation and the assessment of the impacts of those policies.”

“Project Light-House would support MDAs in developing a more efficient revenue assessment method by ensuring that major revenue loopholes are plugged  and revenue  collection is dramatically improved.

The Director of Special Projects, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Victor Omata, in his opening remarks, said one of the key economic policy objectives of the current administration, contained  in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, focused on improving Federal Government revenues by targeting and increasing revenues from non-oil revenue sources.