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The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporations, NNPC, Nigerian Petroleum
Development Companies, NDPC, Nigerian Custom Service, Nigerian Ports
Authority among others under-remitted N526 billion and $21 billion which
is about N8 trillion into the Federation Account, according to the
National Economic Council, NEC.
At its meeting presided over by the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, NEC, received the final report of the forensic
audit of the agencies conducted by the international firm, KPMG and
observed that eighteen agencies did not remit the appropriate money to the
nation’s treasury.
Other agencies to refund the money include Federal Inland revenue Service,
FIRS; Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA; Nigerian
Communications Commission, NCC; Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Department
of Petroleum Resources, DPR among several.
Briefing State House correspondents after the NEC at the Council Chambers,
State House, the Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwanbo, who also chaired
the NEC’s ad-hoc technical committee on the probe, said the Council
adopted the report and resolved to refer those found culpable in the
underpayments to the Attorney-General of the Federation for prosecution.
According to him: “KPMG presented the report of the technical audit of
RGAs concluding that a total sum of N526 billion and USD$21 billion was
under-paid to the Federation Account. “Council adopted the presentations
and reports of the KPMG and the recommendations of its Ad-hoc Committee
including a resolution to identify instances where there appears to have
been criminal infringements and forward such to the Attorney-General of
the Federation and the Legal Committee of the National Economic Council
for further action.
“Council resolved to pursue strengthening of the NNPC governance structure
to prevent further recurrence of such gross under-remittance by the NNPC
and other RGAs.”
The Ad-hoc Committee, which also has other members as Governors of Edo,
Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, and Lagos States as well as the Finance Minister,
further recommended a refund of the amounts under-paid by the defaulting
agencies.
Dankwanbo added that “one of the resolutions of NEC today is to extend the
audit to June 2017. So the audit will continue for the remaining agencies:
NNOC, NPDC, DPR, Customs, Federal Internal Revenue Services, NPA, Maritime
Authorities, all the revenue generating agencies and the details of the
infringement are contained in the report.
“The most important decision that was taken is that a sub-committee will
be set up, which will be an arm of the legal committee of NEC that will
look into details of these kinds of infringements and make sure that those
issues that are criminal and require prosecution will be handled by office
of the Attorney General of the Federation.”
The NEC also heard that the balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as
at May 14, 2018 stands at $1.803 billion; the Stabilization Account as at
May 14, 2018 stands at N15.72 billion; and the current balance in the
Natural Resources Development Fund as at May 14, 2018 stands at N116.10
billion.
Asked if the Council will not commend agencies that remitted 100 percent,
he said “And also to say that an audit is an exception report, it is not
an okay report. So we are not looking for a company that is doing well. He
said, “Accountability does not mean you are doing well, the mirror is very
big and depending on how you look at the mirror that is how you will see
yourself.
“So it is an exception report, we are not looking at the good boys, we
were looking for exceptions. And to go further, it is forensic audit,
detailing this kind of short comings.”
Also briefing, the Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, disclosed
that the suspicious subsidy payments by the NNPC was also discussed during
the meeting but that it was referred back to the sub-committee on
remittances, which he chairs.
Yari said, “Yes, the item was brought up for discussion but it was
referred back to the sub-committee remittances in which I’m chair. We are
doing the nitty-gritty with NNPC in terms of remittances.
“Don’t forget that the reason we got it right in 2016 on the NNPC side is
because the oil prices were too low. It was easy for everyone to get fuel
into the country and then make its profit.
“So, when the price started jacking up then the marketers started
adjusting back because they need to have a template of cost recovery and
how they are going to make up the difference from the pump price to the
landing cost of what they are importing.
“Our problem is the volume, the quantity of consumption which is not
acceptable. Working with the governors so many decisions were taken but by
next month, we are going to adopt the position that either the governors
take responsibility for the subsidy in their states based on their
consumption or we look at other ways.
“For instance, if you say we paid N800 billion subsidy, you will ask who
are we paying the subsidy to? And if you look at infrastructure
development and capital programme of the federal government, it is about
N1.1 trillion, almost 70 percent of what you are spending developing the
economy.
“If there is no infrastructure development then you cannot talk about
development of the economy. N800 billion is a huge amount and we must look
into it: who is benefiting from it.
“By next meeting (May or June), we will definitely come up with a position
of the government at both levels of volume of what is being brought into
the country and what the state and federal government collaborate to
check”, he stated.
He further updated the press with highlights on a report of the Nigeria
Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Council in collaboration with the
Nigeria Communications Commission, which recommended State Government’s
intervention in boosting the country’s drive towards more investments and
business friendly environment. These include: Improving broadband
penetration in the countryside; Resolving multiple taxation; Facilitating
access to land; Providing security for investment; Standardising
regulatory requirements; Facilitating integrated business linkage;
Collaborating on project development; Providing shared facilities.