Senate has faulted the poor revenue generation profile of some research and training institutions in the agricultural sector in the country.
It also decried the non-remittance of 25 percent due to the Federal Government by some of the agencies.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture made the reservations at an oversight meeting on Monday in Lagos with some research and training establishments in the agricultural sector.
They said given the revenue-generating potentials inherent in the agencies, the Senate was disappointed by their poor revenue profile and their non-remittance of 25 percent due to Federal Government coffers.
NAN reports that the agencies that made presentations on their budget implementation for 2019, 2020, and 2021 budget operations included the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), The Agricultural and Rural Management Agency.
Other institutions include the Institute of Agriculture Research and Training Ibadan, Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, and Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research ((NIFOR), among others.
The Chairman of the Committee Sen. Abdulahi Yahaya said the National Assembly expected the agencies to make major interventions and be more proactive, innovative, and productive in their operations.
He urged them to come forward with proposals on how to improve their operations, adding that the National Assembly would support them via relevant legislation.
Yahaya encourage the heads of the organizations to take responsibility by thinking outside the box on how best to be innovative, to improve their operations and IGR, saying that the questions from Senators were based on the reality of the activities of the agencies.
Sen. Adelere Oriolowo said one of the major challenges facing the nation was revenue generation among agencies of government, saying that part of the issues of the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was that of revenue.
He urged the agencies to seek technical support on how best to improve their revenue generation as they were required to utilize 75 percent of the revenue generated and remit 25 percent to the coffers of the government.
Other Senators, who decried the poor revenue generation profile of the agencies and advised them to increase their IGR, included Senators Bima Enagi, Obinna Ogba, Frank Ibezim, and Moses Clopas,
Others are; Ibrahim Danbaba, Sam Egwu, Bello Mandiya and Ibrahim Hadejia.
The committee consequently mandated the management of the concerned to remit the 25 percent due to the Federal Government in 2021 and 2022 in two weeks.
Earlier in his presentation, Prof. Sule Abiodun, Executive Director of NIOMR thanked the committee for the support to NIOMR in renovating the building and housing the organization.
He said NIOMR had procured a BV fishing and research vessel which was helping the Institute to conduct research, train, and determine the fishes in the territorial waters of Nigeria.
Abiodun said NIOMA was partnering with the Nigerian Navy to ensure that fishes in the Nigeria territorial waters were not stolen.
On IGR, he said the agency was careful not to aggressively source for revenue so as not to run foul of its mandate.
(NAN)
