1.7trn Revenue Loss: Senate Blames Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala


Revenue agencies defrauded the Federal Government the sum of N1.7tn, as unremitted revenue generated between 2012 and 2016.



This was disclosed in an interim report of the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Alleged Misuse, Under-Remittance and Other Fraudulent Activities.



The committee, chaired by Senator Olamilekan Adeola (APC- Lagos-West), submitted its report to the Senate last Thursday.



The panel blamed it on a memo by former Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Okonjo-Iweala was alleged to have issued the memo to the agencies to remit 25 percent of revenues they generated to the Federal Government and spend 75 percent on their expenditures.



The panel said the amount to be remitted to the Federal Government during the period by 93 agencies it investigated was N21.5tn.
It alleged that 25 of the 93 agencies covered defrauded the government of a total of N1,695,585,887,406.



The committee said the agencies chose to comply with a directive by Okonjo-Iweala via a memo dated November 11, 2011, with Reference Number BO/RVE/12235/259/VII/201.



According to the panel, in the report, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) ran at a deficit of N3.1tn, while the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which generated N335.855bn, failed to remit N83.963bn during the period under review.



It alleged that the nation’s cash cow generated N15.541tn, while its entire expenditure during the period was N18.657tn, exceeding the corporation’s revenue profile by N3.115tn.



The report also indicted the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which generated N455.5bn but allegedly failed to remit N33.83bn.



Also, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) reportedly remitted N86.636bn to the Consolidated Revenue Fund when it generated N789.104bn.



Others indicted by the panel are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), remitting N13.716bn out of N3.098tn; NIMASA, N184.489bn out of N301.160bn; Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), N5.567bn out of N56.817bn.

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