The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and 34 other
revenue generating agencies
have short-changed the federal
government for N113.8 billion as
the agencies only remitted N11.8
billion or 9.41 per cent of their
internally generated revenue
(IGR) of N125.6 billion in the
outgoing 2012 fiscal year.
The Committee of Finance of the
House of Representatives made
this startling revelation in its
report over poor remittance of
internally generated revenue to
the Consolidated Revenue Fund
by the government agencies.
The report, which will be
presented to the House in due
course, was exclusively obtained
by LEADERSHIP yesterday.
According to the report, some of
the agencies indicted over
inadequate revenue remittances
include the Nigerian Ports
Authority (NPA), the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN), Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA), Standards
Organisation of Nigeria (SON),
PENCOM, NIMASA, AMCON, JAMB,
WAEC, NECO and NEPZA (Nigeria
Export Processing Zone).
Other indicted agencies listed in
the report are FIRS, BOI, CAC, NBC,
NCC, NDIC, NIPOST, ITF, FRCN, NAN,
NTA, NAFDAC, UBEC, NEXIM,
NASENI, NAIC, FRSC, FHA,
TERTFUND and NIGCOMSAT,
NIPRD, RMRDC, NOTAP and NTI.
The other agencies are National
Automotive Council, National Film
and Video Censors Board, Nigeria
Shippers Council, National Sugar
Development Council, Financial
Reporting Council, National
Development Council, Nigeria
Nuclear Authority, Federal
Mortgage Bank and Oil and Gas
Free Zone.
Condemning the agencies, the
committee said it found their
action (inadequate remittances)
unacceptable.
According to the committee, "The
ministry of finance, as monitors
of government investments, has
complained about the
inadequate remittances of
government-owned agencies to
the treasury.
"This led to the issue of a circular
instructing all agencies to remit
25 per cent of their gross
collections to the treasury and
retain 75 per cent for their
operations. The committee has
discovered that this is not being
complied with, given that the
agencies are still spending most
of what they generate.
"It was also discovered that
these agencies are not preparing
and submitting their audited
accounts as at when due in
contravention of the provisions
of the Fiscal Responsibility Act".
The report that the majority of
the internally-generated revenue
(IGR) was not captured in the
revenue framework submitted by
the Ministry of Finance. It further
disclosed that the refusal of
certain agencies to appear
before it might delay the passage
of the 2013 revenue framework,
saying that it might be forced to
use its powers to compel the
affected agencies to appear.
Proposing drastic action against
the errant agencies, the report
said that the committee intended
to submit a preliminary report to
the leadership of the House with
far reaching recommendations
which would compel these
agencies to make proper
remittances to the treasury as
directed by the Ministry of
Finance or they might be
reported to the anti-graft
agencies.
http://m.allafrica.com/stories/201212100349.html/?maneref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fclient%3Dms-opera-mini%26channel%3Dnew%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26q%3Dreps%2Buncover%2Bbillion