New Finance Bill: NASS approves three years imprisonment, N10m fine for corrupt public officers

THE Federal Government’s anti-corruption policy gained a boost as the Senate and House of Representatives approved three years imprisonment and N10 million fine for “any public officer who in the discharge of his official duties awards or signs any contract without budget provision, administrative approvals and procurement plan.”

The amended subsection 4 entitled: ‘Bribery for giving assistance, among others, in regards to contracts’, initially stipulated that: “Any public officer who in the discharge of his official duties awards or signs any contract without budget provision, approval and cask backing shall be guilty of an offence under the Act and on convic- tion be liable to three years imprisonment and a fine of N100,000.”

The new amendment seeks to amend Section 22 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act (CPORO), by substituting the extant subsection 4 with a new subsection 4 with a view to increase the extant fine of N100,000 with N10 million.

Further details were stip- ulated in the Finance Act, 2022 which provides for 43 amendments into the extant Finance Act, 2022, passed by both chambers before em- barking on the Christmas and New Year recess.

Accordingly, the new sub- section 4 provides that: “Any public officer who in the dis- charge of his official duties awards or signs any contract without budget provision, administrative approvals and procurement plan shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and on conviction be liable to three years im- prisonment or a fine of N10 million.”

The finance bill further amended Section 16 of the Public Procurement Act by substituting for subsection 16(1b), a new subsection 16(1b) which stipulates that: “Subject to any exemption allowed by this Act, all public procurement shall be con- ducted (b) based only on pro- curement plans supported by prior budgetary appropriations and no procurement proceedings shall be forma- lised until the procuring entity has ensured that there is ap- proved procurement plan, sub- ject to the threshold in the reg- ulations made by the Bureau as well as guidelines issued by the Minister of Finance, has obtained a ‘Certifcate of ‘No Objection’ to Contract Award’ from the Bureau.”

In the same vein, the newly amended Finance Bill also provides for increase in the Tertiary Education Tax Trust Fund (Establishment, etc) Act, by increasing the tax from 2.5 percent to three percent.

In addition, the Finance Bill also amended Section 89(a) of the Stamp Duties Act (SDA) by substituting for subsection (4), a new subsection (4) as follows: “Notwithstanding any formula that may be prescribed by any other law, the revenue accruing by virtue of the operation of this section, shall, on the basis of derivation, be distributed as follows: 15 percent to the Federal Government and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; 50% to the State Governments; and 35 percent to Local Governments.”