The Federal Government of Nigeria has put the nation’s negative liabilities at N32 trillion.
Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Oluwatonyin Madein, made this known at a One-Day Sensitisation Workshop on Assets Rendition and Preparation of Stand-Alone Financial Statements by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government in Abuja.
Dr. Madein disclosed that the office has begun the process of collating the national assets of the federal government, revealing that the nation’s assets are currently worth N18 trillion, which is less than the N32 trillion liabilities.
“You have negative assets when your liability is less than your net assets. And you have net liability when your liability is above the assets. But the liability, like currently we have about 32 trillion, is negative net assets. That is net liability. Which we have been compiling. Before now, we had gotten to about 18 trillion. And it is expected that at the end of this exercise, we will get to net assets at the end of the day,” Dr. Maidein noted.
She explained that the reason for the current negative liabilities was because some of the MDAs were yet to render their inventory of assets to be evaluated and placed in the financial statement to truly know the nation’s assets.
Consequently, she said, the workshop was organised to discuss more on how to achieve that on or before the end of the year.
Dr. Maidein further explained: “Assets are the real bedrock of the nation. The nation has been spending money, day in, day out, on acquiring, constructing, and even providing assets. So these assets are the values that the nation can go to everywhere and say this is my worth. That is exactly what we are doing. When we get these assets, it can be seen that this is the work of Nigeria in terms of all the assets that Nigeria has.”
She said the country is set to launch a national asset register that would be useful to investors, donors, and other international organisations that are interested in the country’s economy.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Mrs. Kemi Babalogbon, said MOFI, in its new targets, is aiming to be a wholly company and investment management company of the FGN assets, to identify, numerate, and establish what the FGN owned in terms of assets.
She said, looking at the two sides of the balance sheet of the federal government, the liability side is well represented, while the asset side is missing out, underscoring the necessity for the workshop.
She alluded to the fact that Nigeria has a negative net liability position of about N32 trillion just because the asset side is not well represented.
While pledging to work with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to change the narrative, Mrs. Babalogbon stressed the need for the establishment of a national asset register—a one-stop shop for information about the nation’s economy.
The workshop was attended by the Directors of Finance, Internal Audit, and Heads of Accounts of MDAs.
