The Chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Victor Muruako, has said that any move to scrap or merge the Commission with another government agency will spell doom for Nigeria’s current effort at enthroning fiscal discipline in the way the nation’s resources are managed.
The Chairman who made this statement when he received the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, who led some members of his Agency’s Management on a working visit to the Commission’s office recently remarked that for the government to consider scrapping the Fiscal Responsibility Commission because of a recommendation by the then Oronsaye Committee is tantamount to reverting back to old norms of corrupt activities which the Commission has been making efforts to stop.
He disclosed that although some Nigerians have not come to terms with the good job the Commission is doing, it has achieved a lot in the area of revenue remittance by the Federal Government corporations as well as in its efforts in helping to block leakages in government financial dealings.
“The Commission caused the remittance of over 3 trillion Naira to the government coffers,” he said. “For the first time, the Internally Generated Revenue of the Federal Government has surpassed its target, all due to our work in collaboration with the National Assembly.”
Mr. Muruako also said that the Commission’s work does not clash with that of any other agency in the country, stressing that “no national issue is discussed without a mention of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.”
“By scrapping the Commission we are reverting back to the old ways of corrupt activities,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms said they were at the Commission to facilitate exchange of ideas and collaboration between the two Federal government agencies.