Senate Probes CBN, NIMASA, Others Over ‘Misuse, Non-Remittance’ Of Govt Funds
Dr. Bukola Saraki, Nigeria’s Senate President[/caption]
The Senate has commenced probe of revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government for alleged “misuse, under remittance, non-remittance” of internally generated revenues.
The upper chamber of the National Assembly, on Tuesday, constituted a “high powered” six-man ad hoc committee to look into the “fraudulent practices” of revenue generating government agencies from 2012 to 2016.
The committee is chaired by Senator Olamilekan, while senators Andy Uba, Fatima Raji-Rasaki, John Enoh, Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf and Yahaya Abdullahi would serve as members.
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The ad hoc committee is expected to investigate all revenue generating agencies listed under the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.
The agencies include amongst others, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, National Airspace Management Agency, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Television Authority, National Broadcasting Corporation and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
The Senate’s decision to probe these agencies follows a motion moved by Senator Solomon Adeola (Lagos West), tagged, “Urgent Need to Investigate Revenue Generating Agencies over Alleged Leakages, Non-Remittance and Misuse of Generated Revenue.”
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; the Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah; the Chief Whip, Senator Sola Adeyeye; and Senator Ahmed Lawan were among lawmakers who supported the motion.
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Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said of the investigation: “As I keep on hammering, independent revenue and non-oil revenue are very important areas of our budget. This independent revenue is 37 per cent (of the total revenue).
“You remember that last year, it was almost N1.5tn and I am being told now that this year, it is likely to come down to N500bn because they could not meet their target.
“The inability to meet the target is not that they do not have the capacity to meet the target; the problem is that there is too much abuse on these operating surpluses, where people spend up to the last naira in all.
“I think the best way forward is for us to address this issue by blocking these leakages. And I believe that in constituting the ad hoc committee, we would just take the best hands and still bring people from Finance and Public Accounts Committees,” Saraki added.
