The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has said that 77 oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria owe N2.659 trillion to the federal government.
Executive secretary of the agency, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, made the revelation at a media briefing held yesterday in Abuja.
He said the huge debt accrued from the companies’ non-remittance of the petroleum profit tax, company income tax, education tax, value added tax, withholding tax, royalty and concession on rentals.
Orji said the debt when converted to the current official exchange rate of N410.35 to the dollar amounts to $6.48 billion.
A breakdown of the figure showed that a total of $143.99 million was owed as petroleum profit taxes, $1.089 billion as company income taxes and $201.69 million as education tax.
Others are $18.46 million and £972,000 as VAT; $23.91 million and £997,000 as withholding tax; $4.357 billion as royalty oil; $292.44 million as royalty gas, while $270.187 million and $41.86 million are unremitted gas flare penalties and concession rentals respectively.
In view of the government’s current search for revenues to address citizens’ demand for steady power, access to good roads, quality education, fighting insurgency and creating of job opportunities for the country’s teeming youths, Orji stressed that the monies needed to be recovered.
He said the N2.65 trillion debt could cover the entire capital budget of the federal government or service the federal government’s debt of $2.68 billion.
“In 2021, if the money is recovered, the N2.659 trillion could fund about 46 per cent of Nigeria’s 2021 budget deficit of N5.6 trillion and is even higher than the entire projected oil revenue for 2021.
“This is why NEITI is set to work with the government to provide relevant information and data to support efforts at recovering this money.
“The disclosure of this information is in line with NEITI’s mandate to conduct audits, disseminate the findings to the public to enable the citizen’s, especially the media and civil society to use the information and data to hold government, companies and even society to account.
“It is important that the process of recovering this humongous sum be set on course to support government in this period of dwindling revenues,” he said.
Orji therefore called on the companies to ensure they remit the various outstanding sums against them before the conclusion of the 2020 NEITI audit cycle to the relevant government agencies responsible for collection and remittances of such revenue.
“NEITI will no longer watch while these debts continue to remain in its reports unaddressed. We will provide all necessary information and data to sister agencies whose responsibilities are to recover these debts into government coffers. We will do also share the information and data with our partner anti-corruption agencies with whom we have signed memoranda of understanding,” he added.
