Reps threaten to block agencies accounts over revenue profile, non-remittance

The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has threatened to order the Accountant General of the Federation to block the accounts of government agencies that have refused to disclose their revenue or failed to remit accurate revenue due to the government.

The Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Sa’idu Musa Abdullahi (APC, Niger), issued the warning at the resumed quarterly meeting with revenue generation agencies on Monday.

He berated some of the agencies over their refusal to appear before the committee despite invitations extended to them.

Rep. Abdullahi lamented that, out of eight agencies that were invited to appear before the committee on Monday, only two – the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and National Health Insurance Authority – came.

According to him, while two others applied to be given another date, the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, National Broadcasting Commission, National Examination Council and National Inland Waterways Authority failed to either honour the invitation or communicate to the committee.

“We expect them to cause appearance by tomorrow, Tuesday. If they fail to appear before this committee, we may be forced to take appropriate actions. We may write to the Office of the Accountant General to block their accounts.

“We will not take it lightly with any agency because this is an assignment that is very important to this country. We talk about revenue and if we cannot collect the revenue accruing to his country, I think there is a big problem.”

Earlier, the Director of Finance and Accounts with the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, Musa K. Jemaku, faulted the claim by the Office of the Accountant General that they have not paid their operating surplus for three years (2019-2021).

A representative of the Office of the Accountant General had earlier stated that the FRC has not remitted its operating surplus for 2019 (N126 million), 2020 (N143 million) and 2021 (N26 million) to government coffers, adding that the operating surplus for 2021 had not been fully calculated because the agency had not submitted its audited accounts for 2021.

However, Jemaku told the committee that the agency has paid about N800 million to the government this year, countering the claim by the AGF’s office that they only paid about N602 million to the government’s coffers.

According to him, there was a circular from the office of the Minister of Finance for the implementation of the Finance Act 2020, which automated the process of paying the 50 per cent deduction.

“The AGF should be in a better position to answer the question on why the system could not deduct the correct 50 per cent for the period,” he added.