NASS sets up special panel to investigate N4 trillion revenue shortfall due to indiscriminate waivers
On Monday, January 13, 2025, the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance announced the formation of a special committee to investigate a huge N4 trillion revenue shortfall, caused by government agencies granting indiscriminate waivers.
The decision came after Senator Adamu Aliero raised the issue during a hearing to probe the revenue profiles of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) ahead of the 2025 budget. The hearing aims to help Senate and House committees create realistic and accurate revenue projections for the next year.
The committee will be co-chaired by Senator Sani Musa and James Faleke.
Senator Aliero, who moved the motion for the investigation, said, “Due to the issue of waiver, there is a serious shortfall between what is supposed to be collected as revenue and what is actually collected.”
He explained that records show that over N5.9 trillion should have been the consolidated revenue fund for the federation, but only N1.9 trillion was collected. “We need to set up a special committee that will investigate this serious anomaly,” Aliero added.
He continued, “We cannot continue to allow revenue agencies to be spending money without the National Assembly. If someone is given a waiver, we have to find out who gave that waiver. A shortfall of over N4 trillion is not a small amount. We found out that over N4.9 trillion has not been remitted. We should set up an investigative committee that would investigate all the money that has not been remitted.”
