The House of Representatives, on Thursday, expressed grave displeasure over the level of impunity being perpetrated by key revenue-generating agencies, who allegedly conceal information on the actual revenue generated on annual basis.
Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon James Faleke, who observed this during the ongoing interactive session on the 2022 – 2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) with heads of 89 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), criticised the N5.62 trillion borrowing plan to finance the deficit in the 2022 budget.
“We are not happy the way Nigeria is borrowing N5.62 trillion and we have some fund somewhere laying fallow without being used. For God sake, let us build this country together for the sake of all of us,” he said.
Worried by the development, Hon Faleke who underscored the need for thorough scrutiny of the finances of all MDAs, directed the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to provide a report on the Telecom companies’ turnover and the amount realised from 2018 to 2020, to enable the House to determine the projected revenue for 2022 to 2024.
While responding to questions on the low revenue generated by NCC, NCC’s Director Financial Services, Mr Yakubu Gontor disclosed that the “annual operating levy is the second item on our revenue lines. You can see that in 2020 what we have generated is N52 billion. We are projecting N82 billion in 2022.”
He, however, noted that the Commission is working towards the deployment of the revenue assurance system which will also help in enhancing the collections in the annual operating levy after the companies have concluded self-assessment and submit their audited financial statements.
In his intervention, Hon. Sada Soli who frowned at the presentation argued that: “If they (NCC) deploy this system, they can generate up to N2 trillion. They know because he is not a technical person. Because there is so much vested interest in this generation solution and people are attacking it and the government is not in getting this thing done, otherwise, we can generate up to N2 trillion on this. I can prove this if given the opportunity to do that.”
On his part, Hon. Faleke said: “I am interested in a situation where the solution he is talking about, it is true, can give us N2 trillion? Let’s even say N1 trillion, let us be conservative and the figure we are seeing is N82 billion, the gap is too much.”
In his response, Mr Contor said: “We work based on the trend that we observed which is dependent on the average revenue per user that the operators declare, we also look at their subscriber base. So we used those parameters and to project into the coming years to be able to come up with a reasonable amount of the annual operating levy that is due from each operator. It is actually a thorough analysis that we do.”
To this end, Hon. Faleke directed the Commission to provide a list of all turnover of all the operators and amount realised by NCC for three years from 2018 to 2021.”
In the same vein, the NPA’s General Manager (Finance), Mr Emeka Iseogwu, who noted that the agency was on course in terms of revenue generation, disclosed that the agency is expected to generate N338 billion revenue in the 2022 fiscal year.
However, he disagreed with the presentation of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) on the non-submission of audited financial statements between 2019 and 2020 as well as N255 billion liabilities allegedly incurred on the administration and operation of the nation’s ports.
In his presentation, FRC’s Head of Monitoring, Bello Gulmare, alleged that “NPA has only submitted up to 2018 audited financial statement. We are yet to receive 2019 and 2020. Their liability is N255 billion. Their general liability is 235 billion. In our record, we have remittances of N179.6 billion, which gives rise to the net operating surplus of N255 billion.”
While responding, Mr Ezengwu Who accused the Commission of having, the outdated account which gave rise to the N255 billion liabilities, argued that: “2019 has already been approved by the board, 2020 is ongoing. FRC has not done any reconciliation with the NPA for the past four years. The figure he is brandishing does not align with what we have.
“We have done reconciliation with Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC). We are also engaging the accountant general office right now and we have a letter from them inviting us for reconciliation.”
In his intervention, however, Hon Faleke who noted that the Commission remains the only body statutory empowered by the Constitution of Nigeria to monitor remittances of MDAs,
“By law, when it comes to remittances, this office (FRC) is superior to the Accountant General Office. This is a constitutional office. It is not just created by an act of the National Assembly.
“It is important that you reconcile with the FRC. You should be eager to reconcile them. If their report is laid before the National Assembly, and you are found wanting, it has consequences. So, reconcile within two weeks” Hon. Faleke said.
While ruling, he directed NPA to provide “a comprehensive list of all agreements reached by NPA with its tenant, indicating how much each of those tenants is supposed to be paying on a monthly or annual basis and copies of the agreements be attached.”
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