President Muhamadu Buhari has warned government agencies saddled with generating revenue to work hard to meet their targets for 2021.
The President made the order on Thursday, shortly after he signed the 2021 Appropriation Bill and the 2020 Finance Bill into law.
President Buhari in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said, “We are intensifying our domestic revenue mobilization efforts so that we can have adequate resources to fund the 2021 Budget. Revenue Generating Agencies, and indeed all Ministries, Departments and Govt-Owned Enterprises, must work very hard to achieve their revenue targets.
“Relevant agencies are to ensure the realisation of our crude oil production & export targets. Heads of defaulting agencies are warned that they will be severely sanctioned. I also appeal to our fellow citizens & the biz community to fulfill their tax obligations promptly.
“In spite of the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s economy and the government’s revenues, we have made appreciable progress in the implementation of the 2020 Budget. As of December 2020, we had released about N1.748 trillion out of a total of N1.962.
“The overall performance of the 2020 Budget currently stands at an impressive of 97.7 per cent. This commendable outcome underscores the importance of our efforts, together with the Legislature, to return to the discipline of a January-to-December fiscal year.”
President Buhari further commended the sustained mutual understanding, collaboration and high-level engagements between officials of the “Executive and Legislative Arms of government, which have made the accelerated enactment of these Bills possible.”
