Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to produce a detailed report on the exact
amount of money Nigeria lost to import duty waivers between 2011 and
2013.
She was also mandated to provide the full names of the beneficiaries;
what the waivers were used to import; and the justification for
granting such duty exemptions.
The directive was contained in the 50 questions on 'state of the
economy', which the House Committee on Finance handed over to the
Coordinating Minister of the Economy during a session with the
committee in Abuja on Thursday last week.
The details of the questions, whichThe PUNCHobtained on Wednesday,
showed that the committee was worried over the Federal Government's
commitment towards the anti-corruption war and the dwindling non-oil
revenues as a result of the duty waivers approved by the minister.
The question on waivers was number 15 on the list, where the committee
asked, "How much exactly has been the amount of money lost in
government revenue as a result of import duty waivers in 2011, 2012
and 2013?
"In your opinion as the Minister of Finance, who oversees the economy,
what are the implications to the country's economy? What efforts have
you made to stop this waiver policy, which is distorting the economy?
"Our non-oil income has dropped in 2013, a case where increased
tariffs on various items effectively reduced importation to zero in
some sectors.
0"However, those items now find their way into Nigeria through our borders.
"Does it make any sense to increase these tariffs when we have such
porous borders? As an example, officially, Togo imported more rice
this year than Nigeria."
Under question number 16, the minister is to explain why the Federal
Inland Revenue Service planned to engage foreign consultants to
collect tax for the agency, beginning from 2014.
She was therefore asked thus, "Could the minister clarify this
position and what Nigeria stands to gain? Has the FIRS not been
working effectively?"
Question number 30 dealt with corruption, where the committee
expressed doubts over the Federal Government's commitment to fight
corruption and querried why the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission should be starved of funds.
The committee asked, "Do you believe in the fight against corruption?
If you do, why has EFCC not been properly funded? Without properly
funding the commission, how should it be expected to carry out its
duties effectively?"
The committee also queried the choice of Chevrolet cars for the SURE-P
taxis as against Asian and European brands.
It noted that the vehicles were not fuel-efficient and not durable on
Nigerian roads.
The document reads, "Who is in charge of the management of SURE-P and
who takes responsibility for its success or failure?"
Okonjo-Iweala was also taken to task over the bloated recurrent
component of successive national budgets in the country.
The committee recalled that she had boasted to reduce recurrent
spending, but failed to keep the promise. For example, the 2014 budget
of N4.6trn has a recurrent lion's share of 72 per cent.
The committee observed, "Since your arrival as Minister of Finance in
2011, you have publicly announced the need to reduce the recurrent
expenditure so that more money will be made available to capital
spending, which is critical to growing and diversifying the country's
economy.
"How far has government succeeded in making these necessary cuts; and
where exactly have these cuts been made in the effort to reduce
recurrent expenditure?"
The minister is to respond to the questions within three weeks.
The December 19 session with the minister had ended abruptly after
Okonjo-Iweala and the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Abdulmumini
Jibrin, exchanged words.
She had complained of not being accorded respect as a minister after
Jibrin shouted at her and later ordered the session closed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment