He stated this at the zonal sensitisation workshop on Federal Government Debt Recovery Drive Through Project Lighthouse Programme in Minna.
According to him, the debt came to the spotlight from data aggregated from ongoing debt aggregation efforts from more than 5,000 debtors across 10 MDAs by the Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning.
Ahmed who was represented by the Director, Special Projects, Mr Victor Omata, explained that the lighthouse programme initiated by the ministry had enabled the aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies that, hitherto, did not share data.
He further said that all the recoveries made during the ongoing debt recovery effort of the Ministry went to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), for prompt action.
According to him, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement, hence the need for this workshop to sensitize and educate participants to better ways of addressing tax evasion by companies and individuals for growth.
Niger Stare Governor, Abubakar Bello, described the initiative by the Ministry as apt, timely and appropriate.
Represented by Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Matane, the governor frowned at ways individuals and companies, sometimes, deliberately refused to pay taxes to relevant government bodies.