Customs, NPA, Immigration, other MDAs fail to remit N125.8bn IGR

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and eleven other MDAs failed to remit N127.13 billion Internally Generated Revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

Discrepancies were discovered by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in the generated revenue and funds remitted by the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies between 2017 and 2019 – the total unremitted amount was put at N127,129,212,622.58.

Ministries, Departments, and Agencies with missing funds

The other affected MDAs included National Orthopedic Hospital, Lagos, Veterinary Council of Nigeria, Kwali Area Council in Abuja, the Federal Medical Centres in Ondo, Yenagoe and Keffi, and the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin.

Also listed in a document submitted to the National Assembly were Council for Legal Education, the Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority, Owerri, as well as the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.

It was gathered that the highest unremitting agency was the customs, this is according to the document titled “Annual Report on Non-Compliance, Internal Control, and Weakness Issues in MDAs of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the year ended December 31, 2019”.

What you need to know about the CRF

Section 80(1) of the 1999 Constitution provided that all revenues belonging to the Federation should be remitted to the CRF, aside from money earmarked for any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose.

Ministries, Departments, and Agencies had been directed to remit 25 percent of their internally generated revenue to the CRF account, while 75 percent of the fund can be utilised for their operation.

The directive was given during the Goodluck Jonathan administration in a circular issued on November 11, 2011, with reference number BO/RVE/12235/259/VII/201.

NCS, the biggest culprit, ignores queries

The Customs failed to remit over N125.8 billion, while N5.3 million, being the least amount, was not remitted by the Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority.

Read also: NIPC generates N11.91bn IGR in five years

While the financial discrepancies in fourteen MDAs were found to be around 2018 and 2019, that of the NCS, according to the Auditors’ office had occured in 2017.

The reason for the remittance discrepancies discovered in Customs wasn’t given by the authorities of NCS, and queries issued to the agency went unanswered, the Auditor’s office wrote in the document, neither was the intention for future reconciliation or remittance explained.

NCS had given two conflicting reports, with its 2017 monthly collection summary disclosing N691.26 billion as income, but it deposited N629.23 billion into the federation account with the CBN for the same period.

“The audit observed that in the report of NCS’s summary of monthly revenue collection in 2017, total collections for the federation account were N691.26bn.” the document states.

However, the Auditor’s office states that “the report of NCS’ collections and remittances into the federation account in 2017 showed actual remittance into the federation account with the CBN for the year under review to be N629.23bn. A comparison of these two documents revealed an under remittance of N62.24bn.”

Also discovered to be missing is N63.6 billion in the revenue reported by NCS after remittance to the federation account in 2017, bringing the total missing funds to N125.84 billion.

Remit missing funds or face sanction

Customs Comptroller-General have been asked by the Auditor’s office to explain the unremitted sums, ensure the money is remitted, and provide the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly the evidence of remittance.

Failure to follow the advise, the office of the Auditor General recommended that sanctions be meted out in line with paragraph 3112 of the Financial Regulations by the head of Customs.

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