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House of Representatives, yesterday, raised the alarm that Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) willfully withheld public revenue of about N2 trillion.
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Uduak Odudoh, who raised the allegation in a motion, accused NNPCL of disrespecting and downplaying the collective intelligence of Nigerians.
He noted that Section 162(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides for “the federation account”, in which all revenues collected by the government of the federation, except such exempted therein, are paid.
He explained that “federation account” belongs to the entire federation, while the Federal Government keeps the same in trust on behalf of the three tiers of government and Nigerians.
He said the Allocation of Revenue l Act prescribes basis for distribution of revenue accruing to the federation account between federal, state governments and local councils.
The lawmaker argued that national development largely depends on how transparent and accountable relevant government agencies and corporate entities are in the collation, remittance and distribution of revenues acquired.
Odudoh recalled that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) had accused NNPCL of shortchanging it by refusing to pay over N2 trillion to the federation account from crude sales, royalties and taxes.
He said Nigerians were aware that NNPCL had consistently averred that the Federal Government owed it over N4 trillion in subsidy payments, power debts and other sundry charges and, therefore, would not remit until the debts are recovered.
The House, thereafter, asked its committee on finance (when constituted) to investigate the matter.
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