Forensic report shows NNPC, others under remitted revenues to Federation Account

An Ad-Hoc Committee of the National Economic Council (NEC) has reported that a number of revenue-generating agencies may have significantly under remitted returns to the Federation Account.

The committee made the report available on Thursday at the monthly NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The Council had previously ordered the forensic audit to review remittances of the agencies covering 2010 to May 2015.

Out of the 18 Agencies in which forensic audit was conducted, the Committee completed work on 13 Agencies, while two are ongoing and three are not revenue generating.

Read also: SEC readies for forensic audit as Court throws out Oando’s case

The 13 include: the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) among others.

The two outstanding agencies are the Customs Service and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

A statement by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President, however, said that while Council received an updated interim report, a final report is awaited next month.

The forensic audit covers the period from 2010 – May 2015.

According to the statement, “The Council was informed that there were possible significant under-remittances from certain Revenue Generating Agencies to the Federation Account, among other accounts.

“Council was also informed of questionable loans granted by some of the Revenue Generating Agencies”.
The NEC directed the Committee to conclude its report under four weeks and fully report back to it in the next meeting

Also at the NEC meeting, Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, noted that a list of about 500 Nigerians with property and trusts abroad has been obtained to determine their tax compliance status at home.

She explained that such Nigerians can take advantage of the Voluntary Assets & Income Declaration Scheme, VAIDS, to settle past taxation defaults.

Letters, she said, would soon be going out to these Nigerians, including a number of prominent ones, asking them to take advantage of the tax amnesty in order to avoid prosecution and fines by simply paying up their tax defaults.
The VAID amnesty is available till March next year.

Adeosun informed the Council that the month of October 2017 has recorded the highest amount of VAT collections ever recorded in the country in a single month, standing at over N89 billion.

She told Council that Government is targeting N120 billion on a monthly basis in the coming years.
​The Minister of Budget and National Planning Udo Udoma who gave an update on the economy, noted, that signs of recovery had been observed since Q3 2016 and the Recovery consolidated in Q3 2017, with GDP doubling to 1.40%

According to him, Non-oil GDP contracts in Q3 2017 increased by 0.76% after growing in Q1 R Q2 2017, while the Services Sector is still in the negative; the Manufacturing Sector was negative in Q3 2017 also.

Akande’s statement further said that the minister revealed that “Due to high inflationary pressures, household consumption expenditures remain constrained, though it appears such pressure is easing.

“Headline inflation has declined since January – reflecting tight monetary policy.

“Food price increases have remained persistent but slowing down.

“The total value of capital importation at the end of Q3 2017 stood at $4.14 billion (131.3% growth year-on-year) he said.

 

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