A professional service company, Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) which carried out a forensic audit of revenue accruals by revenue generating agencies has confirmed massive under-remittances to government coffers to the tune of N8.1 trillion.
The governor of Gombe State, Mr. Ibrahim Dankwambo, who disclosed this to journalists in Abuja yesterday after the National Economic Council meeting in said various revenue generating agencies shortchanged the government of N526 billion and $21 billion between 2010 and 2015.
Dankwambo, who chaired the NEC Ad hoc Committee on Remittances, said the infractions were identified by KPMG which was contracted to carry out a forensic audit of revenue remittances to the Federation Account by NEC.
He said his committee briefed NEC on the findings and it was resolved that the audit period be extended up to June 2017.
The governor said the financial audit consultancy firm, KPMG, covered 18 revenue generating agencies, which were found culpable of under-remitting to the Federal Government coffer up to the said sum.
The agencies investigated include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Others include Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR); and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), among others.
Dankwambo said a subcommittee will be set up to look at the details of the infringements.
Those that are criminal in nature will be handed over to Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) for prosecution.
“KPMG presented the report of the technical audit of RGAs and concluded that the total sum of N526 billion and $21 billion were under-paid to the Federation Account.
“NEC’s Ad-hoc Committee chaired by Gombe State Governor with members that included Governors of Edo, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Lagos and the Finance Minister recommended a refund of the amounts under-paid.
“Council adopted the presentations and reports of KPMG and the recommendations of its Ad-hoc Committee including a resolution to identify instances where there appears to have been criminal infringements and forward such to the AGF and the Legal Committee of the National Economic Council (NEC) for further action.
“Council resolved to pursue strengthening of NNPC governance structure to prevent further recurrence of such gross under-remittance by the Corporation and other RGAs,” he said.
On the resolution of NEC to extend audit to June 2017, the governor said: “One of the resolutions of NEC today is to extend the audit to June 2017. So the audit will continue for the remaining agencies.
“It is not just NNOC, NPDC, DPR, Customs, FIRS, NPA, Maritime authorities, but all the revenue generating agencies and the details of the infringement are contained in the report.
“The most important decision that was taken is that a sub-committee will be set up, which will be an arm of the legal committee of NEC to look into details of these kinds of infringements and ensure that those issues that are criminal and require prosecution will be handled by Office of the AGF.”
