Nigeria FG set to recover 5.2 trillion NGN in debt from firms and individuals

Nigeria’s Project Lighthouse has compiled a list of individuals and firms that owe the FG money. The agency gathered data from the FIRS, CBN, CAC, and Customs.

The Federal Government plans to recover all outstanding funds and debt worth up to 5.2 trillion naira. It has also approved the second phase of the Project Lighthouse.

In May 2019, the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed inaugurated the Steering Committee for “Project Lighthouse”. The committee was set in place to boost the revenue of the nation. According to the minister, Project Lighthouse “is being positioned as a ‘single source of truth’ for revenue and tax-related intelligence that will support the Ministry, its agencies, revenue agencies, tax authorities and other stakeholders to be better positioned to address the revenue challenges we are facing.”

The project was approved by the Federal Executive Council led by vice president Yemi Osibanjo, on Wednesday. It was confirmed by the Minister of Finance in a national television interview.

The minister said the contract was awarded to Charterhouse Consulting at 316.5 million naira in 2019. Since the project began, Ahmed said it is one of the major areas that FG has seen remarkable progress in terms of FG debt recovery.

“Generally, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement,” Ahmed said. “So, this project Lighthouse shows that many companies and individuals who owe government agencies have refused to honor their obligations yet are still being paid on governments payments platforms like the TSA.”

She added that the ministry of finance issued a directive to all MDAs to collect and compile a list of all the names of debtors alongside the amount owed to the government, and send the list to the ministry. So far, the ministry has recovered about 49.7 billion of the total amount owed.

Ahmed said the ministry has been able to retrieve land registry data from three states including the FCT, Kaduna, and Lagos states. Other states will be included in the second phase. She added that the project has been so far effective in helping the ministry to identify collectible revenue using the central platform.

About Project Lighthouse

Project Lighthouse is a data engine that gathers and analyzes data from revenue-generating agencies to provide adequate information used for enhanced decision-making. Since its creation, it has collected data from the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and the Nigeria Customs Service, in a central platform.

The platform uses Big Data analytics, data sciences and related technology to collect, integrate and analyze financial data from multiple related sources, according to the minister.