NASS probe N4trn revenue shortfall due to waivers
...Threatens to cut funding of JAMB over N1.1b spent on meals, N850m to kill mosquitoes
By Seun Ibiyemi
On Monday, the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance established a special panel to investigate a shortfall of N4 trillion in revenue, attributed to indiscriminate waivers granted by government agencies.
This comes as the committee has threatened to cut the Federal Government’s grant to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the 2025 budget proposal over concerns regarding excessive spending.
The joint committee, co-chaired by Senator Sani Musa and Representative James Faleke, convened a hearing to scrutinise the revenue profiles of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as well as Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) ahead of the 2025 budget. The aim of the hearing was to help the Senate and House of Representatives Committees create accurate and realistic revenue projections for the upcoming year.
The formation of the special panel to probe the revenue shortfall followed a motion moved by Senator Adamu Aliero. In his motion, Aliero explained: “Due to the issue of waivers, there is a serious shortfall between what is supposed to be collected as revenue and what is actually collected. From our records, over N5.9 trillion was meant to be the consolidated revenue fund of the federation. But we only have N1.9 trillion. We need to set up a special committee to investigate this serious anomaly.”
He continued: “We cannot continue to allow revenue agencies to spend money without the oversight of the National Assembly. If someone is granted a waiver, we must find out who authorised that waiver. A shortfall of over N4 trillion is not a small amount. We have found that over N4.9 trillion has not been remitted. We should establish an investigative committee that will look into all the funds that have not been remitted.”
Co-chairman Musa noted that the committee was aware that many GOEs generate revenue from other sources but fail to disclose them, sometimes not even informing the budget office. He said: “We’ve gathered all those, and we’ve conducted our own scrutiny. We believe that GOEs and heads of departments present today will be able to provide us with more details on how these revenues are sourced. We have also examined their expenditures.”
Musa highlighted the issue of agencies collecting revenues that should be self-funded, yet failing to remit funds to the consolidated revenue fund. He emphasised that the committee would address these leakages, stating: “I believe that from now on, we will block that leakage, and we will do the needful. We will scrutinise the expenditures of these GOEs because a GOE can collect 100% of its revenue, yet spend about 95% of that on expenditures. This is the avenue through which we can find a lasting solution to these leakages.”
Musa further noted that, in his presentation of the 2025 appropriation bill, the President had stressed the importance of heads of agencies appearing before the National Assembly to defend their budgets. He warned that MDAs should not be surprised if they receive zero allocations if they fail to justify their budget submissions.
The Joint Committee on Finance also threatened to cut the Federal Government’s grant to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the 2025 budget proposal. The committee raised concerns over JAMB’s spending, particularly questioning why the agency, which generates its own revenue, should still receive government allocations.
This came after JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede reported that the agency had remitted N4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund while receiving a grant of N6 billion from the Federal Government.
JAMB was also questioned about other issues, including its allocation of N1.1 billion for refreshments and meals in the 2025 budget proposal. Oloyede was asked to provide further clarification and was directed to return in three days with a more comprehensive presentation.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC/Edo North) also questioned JAMB’s spending in 2024 during the agency’s 2025 budget defence session before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance. Oshiomhole asked Oloyede to justify the N850 million spent on security, cleaning, and fumigation last year, asking rhetorically: “What did you fumigate? Was it mosquitoes that took all this money?”
He further criticised JAMB for spending N600 million on local travel, asking: “You spent N1.1 billion on meals and refreshments. Are you being freely fed by the government? What this means is that you are spending the money you generate from poor students, many of whom are orphans.”
The committee also queried the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) for failing to remit N8 billion it generated in 2024. The Deputy Corps Marshal, representing the Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed, stated that although they had a target of N10 billion, the FRSC had generated N13 billion. However, the committee noted that only N5 billion of this amount had been remitted.
Senator Sani Musa directed the FRSC to provide details of the unremitted funds, stating: “You had a target of N10 billion but generated N13 billion, yet only remitted N5 billion. You must provide this committee with details of the unremitted funds.”