Probe N5.3tn CBN operating surplus debt

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has queried the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) over alleged unauthorised deductions from funds belonging to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

This followed complaints by several government agencies that monies earmarked for their statutory responsibilities were withdrawn from their accounts.

The concerns were raised when the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, appeared before the committee at an investigative hearing.

Chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam, disclosed that agencies including the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) had complained about deductions from their accounts, which they claimed affected their ability to carry out their statutory mandates.

According to Salam, “There is an ongoing investigation involving UBEC and other agencies. And in the course of the investigation, the UBEC claimed that, for example, there was a shortfall. There was an authority to incur expenditure of November 2025 which was not released by the Accountant-General.

“N16 billion from the Commission’s account. Another N15 billion from the Commission’s account which has not been refunded. And we actually wondered why these deductions from statutory payments of some of these very critical institutions of government.

“Not only UBEC. We had the same thing with NASENI. NASENI, was it N70 billion or more than that? We have different agencies and they complained.”

The lawmaker questioned the rationale behind the deductions, particularly from agencies charged with delivering critical public services.

“So, what is the justification, Accountant-General?” Salam asked.

Responding, Ogunjimi admitted that funds had been taken from the accounts of some agencies but insisted that the action was neither arbitrary nor unlawful.

“We have instances where at a point in time, when we have the need to take monies from some of these agencies to be able to meet critical financial obligations of government. Yes, it’s like a borrow, a loan. We are going to refund it and we have been refunding for those agencies. It’s just to meet those critical obligations,” he said.

The Accountant-General explained that such decisions were based on directives from the Minister of Finance and followed a review of funds that had remained unutilised for extended periods.

“Sir, first and foremost, Accountant-General cannot just sit and begin to pick money from account of these agencies. We first analyse, because the directives come from the honourable minister. We first analyse how long these funds have remained in the account unutilised.

“So, if you have this money like six months and government needs funding, we say, let’s take and then we refund your money when you need it.”

He cited the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) as an example of an agency whose funds had been fully refunded.

“Like TETFund for instance, we took over N300 billion and we have refunded the whole to them. So, if you come back and tell us that we need this money now, can you give us that money, then we process and give it back to them,” he added.

Salam challenged the explanation, noting that several agencies under investigation had maintained that the deductions had not been refunded.

“So, which ones have you refunded? UBEC is crying, NASENI is crying, NBC too is crying. We have quite a number of them. We have more than six that are under various investigations here and that is their major claim that they don’t know how to approach this matter.

“The Accountant-General just gets into their accounts so they cannot have the money to use for the primary purpose they were meant for,” he said.

The committee chairman warned that the practice could undermine the ability of key agencies to deliver on their mandates, particularly in the education sector.

“Like the one in UBEC, you will agree with me that the problem we have today, including banditry and what have you, are also as a result of our neglect of basic education especially in the northern part of the country.

“We have about 13.5 million out-of-school children. UBEC is to construct schools, they are to provide infrastructure, instructional materials. They can’t do that because the fund that is statutorily made for them is being taken for other purposes,” Salam stated.

The hearing also focused on outstanding operating surplus and revenue remittances owed to the Federal Government by various agencies.

Earlier, a member of the committee, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, expressed concern over what he described as persistent revenue leakages and poor remittance performance by some government institutions.

Responding, the Director of Revenue and Investment in the OAGF, Makinde Mogaji, disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) allegedly owed the Federal Government N5.3 trillion in unremitted operating surplus.

“Early last year, they are owing Federal Government N5.3 trillion for their operating surplus and despite all the effort of the PAC to recover the money, they refused to pay.

“Seventy per cent of that money should be paid and behold, CBN refused to pay. That is CBN. And that is just one of our huge sources of revenue,” Mogaji said.

The committee subsequently directed the OAGF to provide details of unremitted operating surplus and other outstanding revenues owed to the Federal Government by the CBN, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and other agencies, as well as records relating to deductions and refunds involving affected MDAs.