A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has identified what he described as “a structural failure to collect, remit and account for revenue that belongs to the Nigerian people.”
- +Agbakoba Seeks Section 162 Reform To Tackle Revenue Leakages
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, Agbakoba presented a policy paper focused on fiscal reform.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, Agbakoba presented a policy paper focused on fiscal reform.
Among other issues, he noted that Nigeria is facing a federation account crisis, which he said results in an annual loss of about ₦20 trillion in revenue.
According to him, the problem stems from the fact that government revenue does not reach the destination prescribed by the Constitution. He proposed full implementation of Section 162 through constitutional amendment as a solution to address leakages at the source.
Agbakoba explained that such reforms would ensure that all revenues collected by the Federal Government are first paid into the Federation Account before any disbursement is made through a transparent budgetary process.
“The direct consequence will be that Nigeria will need to borrow far less. Today, debt servicing is consuming nearly seventy per cent of federal revenue. That is money that is not used to build roads, hospitals or schools.
“It is money that goes to service debt that should never have been necessary in the first place, because the revenues to fund government were always there. They were simply not arriving where the Constitution says they should,” he said.
“If our debt burden comes down, everybody benefits. Businesses can grow. States can deliver services. Families can breathe. But if the debt burden continues to crush the government, it crushes us all. There is no escape from a broken fiscal system. We are all living with the consequences right now.”
Agbakoba further called for greater political accountability ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“This must become an election issue in 2027. Every presidential candidate must be asked publicly and on the record how they intend to resolve the federation account crisis.
“Every voter is a direct stakeholder in whether the revenues collected in their name reach the governments accountable to them. The question of the Federation Account is not a technocratic debate; it is a democratic one. It is about whose money this is and who is being held to account for it,” he said.
