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…urge members to challenge government thinking as committee pledges practical solutions over paperwork

By Gloria Ikibah

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has inaugurated a Ministerial Advisory Committee to provide independent policy advice aimed at translating the Federal Government’s economic reforms into measurable improvements in the lives of Nigerians.

Speaking at the inauguration on Tuesday in Abuja, Oyedele said the committee would serve as a bridge between policy formulation and implementation, insisting that the era of reform must now give way to tangible results.

The minister said: “Today is not simply about constituting another committee.

“It is about institutionalising a new way of thinking, a new way of solving problems, a new way of connecting ideas with implementation and strengthening the quality of economic decision making in service of the Nigerian people. This is what I call the public-policy-private partnership. The context is that we want to move from reform to results.”

Oyedele said the administration of President Bola Tinubu had embarked on some of the country’s most difficult economic reforms, including fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate unification and comprehensive tax reforms.

“These were not easy choices, but are essential because sustainable development cannot be built on fiscal illusion.

“We acknowledge that these decisions impose real, immediate costs on households, businesses and communities. So our focus now is on converting the reforms into tangible results.

“It is one thing to make or change policy. It is quite another to translate that change into outcomes ordinary Nigerians can feel. The true measure of reform is not the number of policies announced or macroeconomic indicators cited. It is the number of jobs created, inflation declining, naira stabilising, and businesses investing with confidence.

“It is about the number of lives improved. That is why this committee has been established”, stated.

The minister said government required honest and evidence-based advice capable of identifying policy risks before they become crises.

He emphasised that the advisory body will not duplicate the functions of government institutions.

“This committee exists therefore to provide independent, evidence-based, and constructive external counsel. We need you to think through the second and third order effects of our policies.

“Surface vulnerabilities and risks before they become crises. Bring international best practice into our decision-making. Relay how our reforms are actually landing in factories, shops and communities so we can adjust course dynamically where necessary”

“Let me be explicit about what this committee is not. It does not exercise executive authority, nor does it duplicate or replace the existing work of any statutory institution. Your role is to advise.

“Your independent perspective will strengthen our decisions and ensure our efforts remain relentlessly focused on outcomes”, he added.

Oyedele said the committee’s work will revolve around four key priorities: economic policy advisory, public financial management, economic coordination and ensuring reforms produce practical benefits.

“We need data-driven counsel on how to achieve our core developmental objectives of job creation, robust growth, enhanced productivity and revenue optimisation.

“The government’s aspirations remain bold. Achieving seven per cent annual real GDP growth and building a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030 requires thinking differently, questioning assumptions, challenging long-held theories and developing strategies that stretch us while remaining deeply grounded in economic reality”, he noted.

He therefore urged members of the committee to offer frank advice, free from political considerations, and challenged them to remain connected to  on the ground.

Oyedele assured members that their recommendations will not be ignored.

“Be rigorous and bold. Ground your advice in hard evidence, not intuition, populism or political convenience. Data should illuminate our choices, not merely justify predetermined outcomes.

“Do not be constrained by conventional thinking. We do not need this committee to validate what we have already decided. We need you to challenge our assumptions, point out the trade-offs we might be preparing over, and tell us the truth we may not want to hear.

“Healthy, fact-based disagreement is not a weakness, it is an advantage.

“Do not let this committee become an ivory tower exercise. Speak with manufacturers, exporters and everyday citizens. Understand where policy is creating friction and how it can open doors.

“A young entrepreneur deterred by red tape, or a factory manager struggling for a permit, they are not abstractions. They are the living metrics of whether our policies succeed or fail.”

“You have agreed to serve on a pro bono basis, sacrificing your time and energy during a critical period. For this demonstration of deep patriotism, we are immensely grateful.

“In return, I promise you that your counsel will be heard. Your advice will not languish in forgotten files. It will actively inform ministerial decisions and the guidance I provide to the President”, he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, Permanent Secretary Finance in the Ministry of Finance, Raymond Omachi, described the inauguration as an important step towards strengthening fiscal governance and improving economic policy through external expertise.

According to him, the committee comprises economists, public finance specialists, development practitioners, governance experts, business leaders and representatives of the organised private sector.

“Today’s inauguration reflects the Honourable Minister’s conviction that the complex economic challenges before our nation require not only sound public institutions, but also the collective wisdom, experience and perspective of accomplished professionals from diverse fields.

“The committee is designed to serve as an independent advisory body, providing strategic counselling on economic policy, fiscal reforms, public financial management, government efficiency, stakeholder engagement and economic coordination.

“Equally important is the role of helping us to translate ongoing reforms into measurable improvement in the lives of Nigerians,” he said.

Omachi said members were expected to provide objective, innovative and nationally focused recommendations capable of strengthening fiscal sustainability and public confidence in government reforms.

Responding chairman of the committee, Abubakar Suleiman, assured the minister that members will focus on producing practical and implementable solutions rather than academic reports.

“I promise you that’s not what we’ll give you.

“What I think you’ve asked of us is that because the job of keeping this country going is a full-time job, and those who have been mandated to do it do not have enough time to think about the new things or the different things or the things that are not yet on the table.

“Our job is to free you to keep running this ministry and keep coordinating this economy while we take time off to think about things that, if you were not on this job, you would have been able to do yourself”, he said.

Suleiman said the committee understands that its role was not to repeat ideas government officials already knew.

“It will be my commitment on behalf of my members that we’ll do everything possible not to come to you with advice on the things you already know, or the things that you’ve heard all the brilliant minds that work with you advise us to tell you.

“We understand that that is not our job”, he noted.

He pledged that the committee will remain connected to the realities facing ordinary Nigerians and relay genuine feedback to government.

He assured the minister that the committee’s recommendations will be practical, implementable and focused on delivering quick wins.

“We will serve as a bridge so that what is happening on the street, what is happening in the farms, what is happening in the factory, beyond the noise, beyond the social media noise, beyond the conversations that are held spontaneously in marketplaces and beer parlours, we will try to listen and hear what people are really saying, where Nigerians are really feeling the pain, which of the policies is really working, and then we’ll bring that back to you in an environment that you can work with.

“Our hope is that the few things that we put our effort to will be valuable things. There will be things that are executable, things that are practical, but also things that can be done very quickly”, he said.

The Committee members are:

1. Abubakar Suleiman                    – Chairman
2. Dr. Ayo Teriba                              – Member
3. Prof. Uche Uwaleke                     – Member
4. Chinyere Almond                        – Member
5. Vincent Nwani                             – Member
6. Segun Oloketuyi                          – Member
7. Jide Adeola                                   – Member
8. Dimeji Salaudeen                       – Member
9. Damilola Akinbami                    – Member
10. Idris Bob-Osagie                       – Member
11. Dr. Jani Ibrahim                       – Member
12. Segun Ajayi-Kadri                    – Member
13. Prof. Joseph Nanna                  – Member
14. Dr. Suleiman Ndanusa            – Member
15. Dr. Baba Yusuf Musa               – Member

The committee, made up of economists, business leaders, governance experts and development professionals, is expected to provide strategic advice to the Ministry of Finance on fiscal reforms, public financial management, economic coordination and stakeholder engagement as the government seeks to consolidate its economic reform agenda.

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...probe unremitted operating surplus, questions use of statutory funds belonging to UBEC, NASENI and others

By Gloria Ikibah

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) to provide a comprehensive account of unremitted operating surplus allegedly owed to the Federal Government by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and other revenue-generating agencies.

The committee also demanded explanations over allegations that the OAGF withdrew billions of naira from the accounts of several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), to finance government obligations.

The directives were issued on Monday when the Accountant General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, appeared before the committee during an investigative hearing at the National Assembly.

Raising concerns during the session, committee member Rep. Gboyega Nasir Isiaka said poor remittance of government revenues remained one of Nigeria’s major fiscal challenges.

“I mean, considering our GDP, you know, ours is one of the lowest on the continent, at about 16 per cent. Now, I know that business entities are meant to return about 80 per cent of their taxes, and others are between 20 per cent and 50 per cent.

“From the totality of what we are seeing, there appears to still be some backlog of remittances. Can you give some instances or some figures around this? That is one. Two, even those business entities that are returning, as a member of the economic team, how comfortable are you with the performance of some of those entities given their assets and all of that?

“Like CBN, SEC, NIMASA and some of those. Because it’s not just enough for us to say 80 per cent of their surpluses. What exactly is the surplus they are giving us? These are the asset base that they have in their hand. So I think it’s important for us to have a look at that, in addition to some of the revenues that they are meant to have paid but have not paid for,” Isiaka said.

In response, the Director of Revenue and Investment at the OAGF, Makinde Mogaji, disclosed that the CBN had yet to remit an alleged N5.3 trillion operating surplus to the Federal Government despite repeated recovery efforts.

“Early last year, they were owing the Federal Government N5.3 trillion for their operating surplus and despite all the effort of the PAC, N5.3 trillion CBN, and despite the effort of the PAC to recover the money, they refused to pay. 70 per cent of that money should be paid and behold, CBN refused to pay. That is CBN. And that is just one of our huge sources of revenue. Agency like FAAN, we have record of ₦473 billion paid,” Mogaji said.

On allegations that the OAGF had been making automatic deductions from the accounts of MDAs, the Accountant General defended the practice, describing it as a mechanism designed to enable government meet pressing financial obligations.

He added that some agencies later sought presidential intervention to reverse the deductions.

“That was an ingenious way of taking in advance what is due to government last year, and that was how we were able to rake in a lot of revenue last year.

“Let me add to that. Because when we initiated that move and were able to rake in a lot of revenue, some of these agencies went behind to seek a reversal. So, we’ve been battling with that issue because some went back to Mr President and said that was too much this and that. Some got total cancellation. Some got reduced advance.

“So we have been battling with that and that’s why we were not able to return like what we had last year to that level. And you have instances also where agencies like NNPC refused totally to cooperate… to the extent that they had to be walked out because of their non-compliance and cooperation. NNPC has agreed to some of those liabilities, some they said no they do not agree, so all of that is still being handled by a post-mortem committee,” Ogunjimi said.

Providing further clarification, Mogaji said the automatic deduction mechanism was intended to recover operating surplus in advance, subject to reconciliation.

“Yes, the auto deduction that was established last year has been working perfectly. Like AGF said, the auto deduction is an advance way. It’s a mechanism designed to pick the operating surplus in advance from these agencies, and at the end of the day, they will compute OPS and see whether they have excess or they have been over-deducted. We have some figures here, but they can’t be taken to be the final lists”, he added.

Committee Chairman, Rep. Bamidele Salam, however, questioned the legality of withdrawing statutory allocations from agencies established to perform specific national responsibilities.
He cited complaints received from UBEC and several other government institutions.

“There is an ongoing investigation involving UBEC and other agencies. And in the course of the investigation, the UBEC claimed that, for example, there was a shortfall. There was an authority to incur expenditure of November 2025 which was not released by the Accountant General, ₦16 billion from the Commission’s account. Another ₦15 billion from the Commission’s account which has not been refunded.

“And we actually wondered why these deductions from statutory payments of some of these very critical institutions of government. Not only UBEC. We had the same thing with NASENI. NASENI, was it ₦70 billion or more than that? We have different agencies and they complained. So, what is the justification, Accountant General?” Salam asked.

In response, Ogunjimi maintained that the withdrawals were temporary and carried out only after assessing whether the affected funds had remained idle.

“We have instances where, at a point in time, we have the need to take monies from some of these agencies to be able to meet critical financial obligations of government. Yes, it’s like a borrow, a loan. We are going to refund it and we have been refunding for those agencies. It’s just to meet those critical obligations.

“Sir, first and foremost, Accountant General cannot just sit and begin to pick money from accounts of these agencies. We first analyse, because the directives come from the Honourable Minister. We first analyse how long these funds have remained in the account unutilised. So, if you have this money like six months and government needs funding.

“So we say, let’s take it and then we refund your money when you need it. Like TETFund for instance, we took over ₦300 billion and we have refunded the whole to them. So, if you come back and tell us that we need this money now, can you give us that money, then we process and give it back to them”, he said.

The explanation failed to convince the committee chairman, who insisted that the deductions had undermined the statutory responsibilities of several agencies.

“So, which ones have you refunded? UBEC is crying, NASENI is crying, NBC too is crying. We have quite a number of them. We have more than six that are under various investigations here and that is their major claim, that they don’t know how to approach this matter. The Accountant General just gets into their accounts so they cannot have the money to use for the primary purpose they were meant for.

“Like the one in UBEC, you will agree with me that the problem we have today, including banditry and what have you, is also as a result of our neglect of basic education, especially in the northern part of the country. We have about 13.5 million out-of-school children. UBEC is to construct schools, provide infrastructure and instructional materials. They can’t do that because the fund that is statutorily meant for them is being taken for other purposes,” Salam said.

The committee directed the OAGF to furnish it with detailed records of outstanding operating surplus owed by government agencies, as well as evidence of deductions and refunds made to affected MDAs, as the investigation continues.

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The Federal Government has introduced a new operational framework aimed at strengthening the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of former terrorists, bandits and other individuals who have renounced armed violence across Nigeria.

The initiative, unveiled through the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), is designed to improve coordination among government agencies and ensure a more structured approach to rehabilitating ex-combatants while promoting lasting peace in conflict-affected communities.

The National Coordinator of the NCTC, Major General Adamu Laka, disclosed this on Monday during the National Validation Workshop on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration held in Abuja.

According to Laka, the newly developed procedures will guide the implementation of the DDR programme at the federal level and in the pilot states of Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara.

He explained that the initiative forms part of the Federal Government’s broader strategy to tackle insecurity through a combination of military operations and non-military interventions aimed at addressing the root causes of violent extremism.

Laka said the Standard Operating Procedures were developed to ensure that the government’s reintegration programme is implemented in a coordinated, transparent and effective manner.

He noted that the guidelines provide practical direction for ministries, security agencies, civil institutions and other organisations involved in identifying, processing, rehabilitating and reintegrating individuals who have abandoned violence.

According to him, the framework clearly outlines the responsibilities of participating institutions, promotes accountability and strengthens collaboration among stakeholders, while eliminating overlaps in responsibilities.

The NCTC coordinator observed that although Nigeria already has a National DDR Framework, there was a need for detailed operational guidelines to translate policy objectives into practical actions.

“Recognising that a policy framework alone is insufficient to guide implementation, the NCTC and its partners subsequently developed a comprehensive set of Standard Operating Procedures to translate the strategic objectives of the National DDR Framework into practical guidance for implementing institutions,” Laka said.

He explained that the SOPs establish uniform standards for implementing the programme nationwide while clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of each participating agency.

Laka disclosed that the framework was developed after extensive consultations with security agencies, government institutions, peacebuilding organisations and other relevant stakeholders.

According to him, the procedures draw from Nigeria’s previous experiences, international best practices and the country’s unique security realities.

“These Standard Operating Procedures have been developed through extensive consultations and draw upon national experiences, international best practices, and the unique realities of the Nigerian context,” he added.

He noted that the consultations considered the experiences of communities affected by terrorism and banditry as well as lessons learned from similar rehabilitation programmes in other countries.

The Federal Government selected Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara as pilot states for the implementation of the new framework due to the prolonged security challenges confronting the North-West region.

The three states have witnessed repeated attacks by terrorists, bandits and kidnappers, resulting in numerous deaths, displacement of residents and disruption of economic and social activities.

Officials said the pilot phase would enable the government to evaluate the effectiveness of the guidelines, identify implementation gaps and make necessary adjustments before extending the programme to other parts of the country.

Laka stressed that the initiative reflects the government’s belief that military operations alone cannot permanently resolve Nigeria’s security challenges.

He said effective disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes would help reduce the likelihood of former fighters returning to violent groups while also supporting reconciliation and the recovery of communities devastated by years of conflict.

The NCTC coordinator, however, emphasised that the success of the programme would depend on effective collaboration among government institutions, security agencies, traditional rulers, community leaders, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.

He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to implementing comprehensive strategies aimed at restoring peace, enhancing public safety and rebuilding communities affected by terrorism, banditry and other forms of armed violence.