Government queries non-remittance of N450b by CBN, SEC, others

Commission admits withholding N3.4b

The Federal Ministry of Finance is to query the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), among other government agencies for not remitting operating surpluses totalling N450billion.

Other agencies that have a case to answer for the unremitted funds after a review of the operating surpluses of 31 revenue generating agencies are Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

Although the ministry did not give a breakdown of how much each agency was meant to refund, it disclosed that it had constituted “a committee to recover unremitted operating surpluses of agencies of government running into N450billion.”

But in telephone response to The Guardian’s enquiry on the issue, the spokesman for CBN, Isaac Okoroafor refused to make comments.

According to him, “There is no way I can respond to such an allegation without seeing a circular to that effect.”

The Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, at the investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts yesterday however, admitted that it failed to remit the sum of N3.4 billion out of the N13.7 billion it generated between 2010 and 2012.

Mounir said the commission could not remit the N3.4 billion due to financial losses it incurred within the three years.

A statement yesterday from the Finance Ministry indicated: “The committee led by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, is to reconcile the operating surpluses of 31 revenue-generating agencies of government for the period 2010-2015.”

It added: “The findings of the committee so far, have shown under-remittance of over N450 billion, which has accrued within the period.”

It specifically said that “staff of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation have critically reviewed the accounting statements of these agencies, which include the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), among others.

“The committee will, therefore, be inviting the management of these agencies to explain why their operating surpluses have not been remitted as mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.”