The Fiscal Responsibility Commission is poised to partner with Growth Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency, GIFT to promote transparency, accountability and prudence in governance which would in turn improve service delivery in the provision of public goods for Nigerians.
In his address, the team lead of GIFT, Mr Oke Epia noted that his team is ready to push for the amendment of Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) in the Senate as well as assist the Commission to improve operating surplus remittances by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) stressing that the Civil Society Organisation has developed Revenue Compliance Index (RCI) to measure the level of compliance by the MDAs to remittances of operating surplus. In his words “the prudent management of earning from the natural resource will lead to efficient, effective and functional service delivery”.
He emphasised that GIFT’s intervention would also cover the extractive industry by promoting transparency in the oil and gas sector which is the major revenue source for the country, especially how the FRA would be used to complement the Petroleum Industry Act.
Another focus of GIFT is encouraging citizens to assist the Commission at the grassroots level in project monitoring and implementation which is in line with section 51 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007.
According to Epia, the GIFT project sponsored by Palladium Group and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) commenced in April 2022 and it will run for four quarters and end at the end of the first quarter in 2023.
In his response, FRC Chairman, Victor Muruako Esq. represented by the Director of Administration, Mr Mohammed Zailani commended the initiative and its drivers saying that the Commission is ready and willing to provide the technical assistance for the success of the project.