By Tony Obiechina, Abuja 

The Federal Government has uncovered debts worth about N5.2 trillion owed by over 5,000 debtors across 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed disclosed this at the official launch of Project Light House Debt Analytics and Reporting Application in Abuja on Monday.

She explained that out of the amount, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), working in concert with other agencies of government, were able to recover the sum of N53.

The Minister recalled that determined to block significant leakages in Government finances, her ministry in 2019 directed all government agencies to aggregate all Government debts across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), with a view to having a single window on the credit profile of Government. 

She said, “Sequel to the issuance of the Finance Circular, the Ministry through the consolidation efforts of the project, has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion. These debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000+ debtors across ten (10) Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). 

“Working in collaboration with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), we have been able to recover the sum of N53.5 billion within the last 12-18 month, through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) as a recovery touch point. 

“However, to consolidate on the current effort of this project, a Debt Recovery Application has been built to be monitored by the new Debt Recovery Unit. The Debt Recovery Unit will capitalize on the effort made by the project consultants to provide the government with up-to-date records into its credit status by harmonising debt records across all MDAs within the country”.

The Minister explained that the main capabilities of the Project Lighthouse Debt Recovery Application include, to create users and their usage profiles; to allow owners/representatives of registered companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), sign up on the system and ascertain the status of their liabilities to the government; to be used by debtors to offset debt in a seamless and secured manner.

Mrs Ahmed further stated that under the platform of the project Light House the Finance ministry will able to track the credit profile of the government, ascertain details of outstanding amount due and amount recovered from debtors.

“It also gives Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) access to update debt records progressively. In addition to this, a fully functional website has been developed to effectively manage public perception around the Government debt recovery efforts and revenue improvement strategies”.

“The usefulness of this platform for our revenue generation effort will be dependent on your cooperation and commitment in providing quality and relevant debt-related information to populate the platform. It is also our belief that your organization stand to benefit immensely from the intelligence that Project Lighthouse will be producing.

“To this end, I want to use the opportunity to urge all FGOEs and MDAs to update their list of debtors on a month-on-month basis against the Project Lighthouse debt recovery portfolio. This also encompasses the development of an institutional framework for enforcement, recovery and management of the fiscal environment”. she added. 

Project Light House is a data driven artificial intelligence engine that provides the Finance Ministry with an intelligence and profiling platform to aid in Policy formulation,  implementation and assessing the impacts of policies which would support its MDAs to develop a more efficient revenue Mobilization model.