The National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday directed the recovery of N526 billion and $21 billion under-remittance to the Federation Account by revenue generating agencies.
Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo briefed State House correspondents at the end of the NEC chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He was with Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari, Osun State Governor Rauf Aragbesola and Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma.
He said: โKPMG presented the report of the revenue generating agencies, concluding that the sum of N526 billion and $21 billion was underpaid to the Federation account. NEC Ad-hoc committee, which was chaired by me, Gombe State Governor with members, including governors of Edo, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna and Lagos.
โAnd the Finance Minister recommended refund of the amount underpaid.
โCouncil 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.
โCouncil resolved to pursue strengthening of the NNPC governance structure to prevent further recurrence of such gross under-remittance by the NNPC and other RGAs.โ
According to him, a sub committee will be set up to look into the details of the infringement in order to determine those that will be prosecuted by the Attorney General.
Explaining that the audit report covered 2010 to June 2015, Dankwambo said that the audit will be extended to 2017.
His words: โThe audit was for the revenue generating agencies that have paid into the Federation account and those that paid for Federal Government agencies.
โWe are talking about federation account because those that paid by law to Federal Government are the responsibility of the Federal Government. So all the entities in the budget that are supposed to pay revenues into government coffers were checked from 2010 to June 2015; that was the cadre.
โOne of the resolutions of NEC today is to extend the audit to June 2017. So the audit will continue for the remaining agencies.โ
Some of the affected agencies are: โNNPC, NPDC, DPR, Customs, Federal Internal Revenue Services, NPA, Maritime Authorities.
โAll the revenue generating agencies and the details of the infringement are contained in the report. Because it is a voluminous report; there are a lot of items that are there,โDankwambo said, adding:
โThe 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 go 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.โ
Asked if the Council would not commend agencies that remitted 100 per cent to the Federation account, he said: โAnd also to say that an audit is an exception report, itโs not an okay report. So we are not looking for a company that is doing well.
โAccountability 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.
โSo it is an exception report. We were not looking at the good boys, we were looking for exceptions. And to go further, it is forensic audit, detailing this kind of short coming.โ
On NECโs discussion on the question of states to determine how much is paid as subsidy by the government and not NNPC, Yari said: โYes, the item was brought up for discussion but it was referred to the Sub-committee (Remittances) which I chair. We are doing the nitty, gritty with the NNPC in terms of remittances.
Aregbesola said that the Council commended the courage of the President and the Vice President as Chair of Council in ensuring the probe of Federal Government Agencies and completing the audit report as this promotes transparency and the anti-corruption efforts of the Administration.
Udoma said he briefed the Council on the just-concluded Economic Recovery and Growth Plan Focus labs.
A report on the Excess Crude Account (ECA) presented by Minister of Finance to Council, according to the Talking Point released at the end of the meeting, disclosed that the balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at May 14, 2018 stands at $ 1,830, 682, 945.30
It added: โHonourable Minister of Finance reported to Council that the current balance in the Stabilisation Account as at May 14, 2018 stands at N 15, 725,456,963.83
โHonourable Minister of Finance reported to the Council that the current balance in the Natural Resources Development Fund as at May 14, 2018 stands at N116, 104,644,763.39โ
