No fewer than 5,000 companies and individuals across 10 Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are owing the Federal Government about N5.2 trillion.

The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Aliyu Ahmed, disclosed this at the zonal sensitisation workshop on Federal Government Debt Recovery Drive Through Project Lighthouse Programme held in Minna, the Niger State capital on Friday.

Ahmed noted that the debt came to the spotlight from data aggregated from ongoing debt aggregation efforts from more than 5,000 debtors across 10 MDAs by the Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning.

The Permanent Secretary, who was represented at the event by the Director, Special Projects, Victor Omata, said the lighthouse initiative which was initiated by the ministry had enabled the aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies that, hitherto, did not share data.

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Ahmed stated that all the recoveries made during the ongoing debt recovery effort of the Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning went to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for prompt action.

Speaking at the event, Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, described the initiative by the Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning as timely and appropriate.

Bello, who was represented by the Secretary to Niger State Government, Ahmed Matane, frowned at ways individuals and companies, sometimes, deliberately refused to pay taxes to relevant government bodies.

He promised that the Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning of Niger State would continue to support the ministry.

The Star