The Project Light-House Programme of the Federal Government being managed by Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning is a veritable source of revenue to the Federal Government. The Director of Special Projects in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr.Victor Omata made the disclosure in Asaba, Delta State, during a one-day sensitisation programme for the South-South Geo-political programme on Federal Government’s debt recovery drive through the Project Light- House Programme.
Mr. Omata disclosed that Project Lighthouse Programme was designed to help solve the intractable and perennial problem of debt recovery by using big data analytics technology.
The Director who was represented at the event by a Deputy Director in the Special Projects Department, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs.Bridget Molokwu disclosed that, the core focus of Project Lighthouse (phase 2) is the recovery of debt owed to the Federal Government by individuals and companies through the debt recovery capability of Project Lighthouse engine. The system collects, integrates and analyses data from revenue generating agencies in order to create insightful information for improved decision making on debt recovery.
Through the Project Light-House Programme the Federal Government has been able to recover huge debts from government debtors both individual and corporate entities, thereby increasing revenues from Non-Oil Revenue Sources.
According to Mr. Omata, Project Lighthouse Programme is one of the portfolio projects under the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI) of the Federal Government.This initiative has enabled the aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies who did not share data before, adding that generally, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement.
According to the Director, the importance of the project is leveraging on big data technology to help in blocking revenue loopholes, identifying new revenue opportunities, optimising existing revenue streams especially the non-oil revenue as well as improving fiscal transparency.
According to Mr.Omata, data from Project Lighthouse Programme revealed that many companies and individuals who owed government agencies and refused to honour their obligations were still being paid especially through the government platforms such as GIFMIS and Treasury Single Account (TSA) due to lack of visibility over such transactions.
Mr. Omata explained that, the debts are in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); refunds to the Government by companies which failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been effected, unpaid credit facilities granted to both corporate entities and individuals by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BOA). Others are judgment debt in favour of Government, debts owed Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) by insurance companies among others.
He hinted that the Ministry had taken steps to address the major revenue loopholes some of which include: the issuance of a Ministerial directive on 26th September 2019 to all MDAs, with a view to aggregating all Government debts across the Public Finance Space, to have a single window on the credit profile of the Federal Government and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) regulatory approval on Wednesday 31st March 2021, extension of the functionalities of the debt recovery capability of the Lighthouse Project Programme.
He added that the above measures would enable Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to fully automate the debt recovery process and make settlements of debts as seamless as possible.
The Director further disclosed that the Ministry through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics & Reporting Application has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N6 trillion from eleven (11) Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). These debts according to him came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000 + debtors across ten (10) MDAs. The debt aggregation effort is still ongoing, he added.
He solicited participants support and commitment to changing the revenue story by innovatively exploiting the great power of Big Data Analytics, Data Science and related technologies. He also sought the participants cooperation in providing quality and relevant information (debt-related data) to populate the platform, reiterating that, debt recovery will reduce the country’s indebtedness, tract day- to- day revenue generation, get true profile of our debt recovery porfolio, block revenue leakages and loopholes, adding that, Project Lighthouse Programme has come with this recovery process.
He noted that the organizations stand to benefit immensely from the intelligence generated from the Project Lighthouse Programme.
While giving the Vote of Thanks, the Director Information Communication and Technology, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr. Joseph Faluyi said, “No government can run without funds,” adding that people owing government and are not paying are part of the country’s problems. He stated that the core mandate of the Project Lighthouse Programme is how to tract, retrieve and recover those owed government debts by leveraging on technologies.
Faluyi who was fascinated by the participants reactions and contributions at the event thanked them on behalf of the Permanent Secretaries of Finance, Mr. Aliyu Ahmed and Mr. Okokon Udo.
The South-South Zonal Sensitisation Programme was well attended by representatives drawn from government agencies, institutions and hospitals among which are: Federal Medical Centre Asaba, Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Federal Government Girls College, Imiringi, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital, National Business and Techinical Examination Board (NABTEB), National Technology Business Centre, Benin, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, among others.
It could be recalled that the Ministry had organized a similar sensitisation programme on the Light House Programme in the South-West, North-West and North-Central Geopolitical Zones of the country.
Signed:
Stephen Kilebi
D (Press/PR)
