House of Representatives Committee on Finance has threatened to order the accountant general of the federation to block the accounts of government agencies that refused to render accounts of their revenue profile or accurate remittance to the government.
The deputy chairman of the committee, Hon Saidu Abdullahi who issued the threat at the resumed revenue monitoring exercise of the committee yesterday also frowned at the refusal of some agencies to appear before the panel despite the invitation extended to them.
Abdullahi said out of eight agencies invited to appear before the committee on yesterday, only two (the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and the National Health Insurance Authority) honoured the committee’s invitation.
He said while two others applied for 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 with them.
The lawmaker said, “Let me put on record that we hope to have these agencies appear before the committee. Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, National Broadcasting Commission, National Examination Council and National Inland Waterways Authority.
“We expect them to make an appearance by tomorrow (Tuesday). If they fail to appear before this committee, we may be forced to take appropriate action. 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.”
The director of finance and accounts with the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), Musa Jemaku, berated the office of the accountant-general for claiming that they have not paid their operating surplus for three years (2019, 2020, and 2021).
Jemaku who said the agency paid about N800 million to the government this year and also faulted the AGF that they paid about N602 million to government coffers.
He said there is a circular from the office of the minister of finance for the implementation of the Finance Act 2020, adding that the circular automated the process of paying the 50 percent deduction and that “the AGF should be in a better position to answer the question on why the system could not deduct the correct 50 percent for the period.
“On a lighter note, let me say that this is not the avenue for the AGF to draw our attention to the non-payment or operating surplus when there is no official communication from them to the agency”.
A representative of the office of the accountant-general had said the FRC has not remitted its operating surplus for 2019 (N126 million), 2020 (N143 million), and 2021 (N26) million to the government coffers, adding that the operating surplus for 2021 has not been fully calculated because the agency has not submitted its audited accounts.
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