Assembly faults payment of N74.3m to consultant by government

The Niger State House of Assembly has faulted the payment of N74.3 million to a consultant by the state government.
The Assembly said it was an unhealthy move by the state government.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abdullahi Mammagi, while presenting a report to members on Wednesday, said out of N2,427,385,481 collected between January and June, N74,356,699 went to Consultants (Cogenmt and Curtville).
According to the report by the Committee on the finances of the state between January to June 2016, the Assembly said the engagement of consultants, which is supposed to improve the revenue of the state, is worsening the situation.
The Chairman said the amount was further depleted by 10 per cent, amounting to N242,535,538, to local government councils in the state, while another 10 per cent went to the Board of Internal Revenue as incentive on monthly basis.
According to Mammagi: “This situation is unhealthy for the state and unacceptable.
“The engagement of consultants, which is supposed to improve the revenue of the state, is worsening the situation.
“The arrangement where a consultant engaged in a specific area is paid a percentage of the total collection is fraudulent.
“It have been observed that 60 per cent of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue comes from PAYE, which does not necessarily require the services of a consultant, but consultants engaged were paid a percentage from the consolidated receipts.”
The Assembly expressed dismay over the poor performance of the state’s IGR despite seeming reforms to improve the revenue base of the state, adding that of the expected revenue of about N4.5 billion, only N2.4 billion was collected.
It said: “In fact, there is no significant improvement as to what obtains in the past.”
The Committee noted that the state government received N31.6 billion and disbursed N26.6 billion between January and June 2016, stating that N424.6 million was mopped up from the partial implementation of Treasury Single Accounts.
In its recommendation, the Committee called for the reorganisation of the Board of Internal Revenue in order for it to operate professionally.
It equally called for the restriction of the engagement of consultants to areas requiring technical skills and solutions.