FG appoints consultants to plug leakages in Federation Account

[Mirror]

The Federal Government yesterday said 53 consulting firms had been engaged to conduct verification, reconciliation and remittance investigations on all banks engaged by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) with a view to curbing leakages in the collection system and ensuring that illegal charges by banks are recouped into government coffers.

The Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Engr Elias Mbam, who gave the hint yesterday in Abuja, said the engagement of the consulting firms, with JK Consulting servingas Lead Consultant on the exercise which would cover January 2008 to June 2012, was sequel to the presentations made by the Commission to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) on March 19th, and approval it secured from the Committee to commence the exercise.

Mbam, specifically disclosed that the exercise slated to commence on June 3 through August 5 this year would enable the consultants to verify and reconcile revenue collections and remittances by the 24 banks engaged by both the FIRS and NCS in order to recover any excess deductions and stop further leakages.

At the formal launch of the exercise in Abuja, the RMAFC chief said that the project would commence on June 3 and is expected to be completed on the August 5, 2013 when the lead consultant would submit its final report to the Commission.

The Lead consultant is expected to supervise and Coordinate the activities of other consultants; develop data capturing and reporting template as well as verify, reconcile and ensure that all flow of revenue from collecting agencies from January 2008 and June 2012 is in accordance with relevant agreements between the collecting banks, FIRS and the NCS.

The other 52 consultants are expected to reconcile all transfers from the lead banks to the federation account in the CBN; verify that the remuneration paid to each lead and collecting bank are in accordance with the agreements signed with the FIRS and NCS, among other responsibilities.

National Mirror