The federal government has again affirmed that it is fully committed to ensuring transparency and accountability of the federation account. Mr Remi Babalola Minister of State for finance, said members of the Federation Account Allocation committee had ensured strict adherence to the enabling Act which mandated it to share allocations from the federation account to the three tiers of government in line with the extant laws of revenue allocation.

All federally collected revenues are paid monthly into the federation account, which are approved and distributed among the three tiers of government by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

“We have ensured strict adherence to this mandate by maintaining openness and fairness thus avoiding what can be described as he constant temptation of slipping into less regulated ways of wielding power of becoming less democratic as we go along,” he said.

“Without being immodest, let me state that we have conducted the business of FAAC in a more pragmatic manner than what it used to be in previous years. At present, we are in the process of embarking on the publication of a well restructured, more elaborate and a compendium of all allocations made to the various tiers of government.

“There is no better way to achieve integrity and accountability within government and government transactions than by promoting transparency and openness. Nigerians must be able to know how the operations of the Federal Account work and have confidence that the authority vested in us has been exercised appropriately.”

The FAAC chairman also assured members of the Federal Government’s commitment in the improvement of the available data on Federation Account allocation to all tiers of government in the country. He noted that all segments of the nation’s society was vital to making informed decisions about how to strengthen capacity within the public sector to deliver efficient and effective services, promote innovative policy responses to community needs, and also proffer strategies to improve support for all government programmes.

Reviewing the out-going FAAC year, Babalola disclosed that the committee recorded some significant achievements during the period.

According to him, the committee resolved the protracted problem of the one per cent commission that was charged by the Central Bank of Nigeria on the refund due to the Federation Account as a result of the Paris Club debt exit which this administration inherited.

Besides, he stated that there has been a remarkable progress in the government’s quest to diversity and grow the nation’s economic base.

“These series of interactions were very useful and has helped propel and sharpen us to do things differently.”