House Probes N1.3tn Unremitted Revenue by PPPRA
The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the allegation that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) is withholding N1.343 trillion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) belonging to the federal government.
The lower chamber has, therefore, mandated the House Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to investigate the allegation and report back to the House in 10 weeks for further legislative action.
The House ordered the investigation following the adoption of a motion moved by Hon. Julius Ihonvbere at the plenary yesterday.
In moving the motion, Ihonvbere said: "The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) is alleged to be withholding N1.343 trillion internally generated revenue belonging to the federal government payable into the Consolidated Revenue Account domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in contravention of Section 162(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended."
Ihonvbere quoted the Director General, Budget
Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, to have said in 2018, during a town hall meeting with chief executive officers of Governmentowned enterprises (GOES) in Abuja, where he named the PPPRA as the worst culprit.
He quoted Akabueze as accusing the PPPRA of withholding unremitted operating surplus of over N1.34 trillion.
Ihonvbere noted that Section 22, Sub-section 1 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 (FRA 2007) states that, "Notwithstanding the provisions of any written law governing the corporation, each corporation shall establish a general reserve fund and shall allocate thereto at the end of each financial year, one fifth of its operating surplus for the year", stressing that such payments are to be made every year after preparation of audited accounts.
According to him, Section 22, sub-section 2 of the Act stipulates that "the balance of the operating surplus shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the federal government not later than one month following the statutory deadline for publishing each corporation’s account."
Ihonvbere said considering the fact that the alleged N1.343 trillion unremitted revenue by PPPRA was collected as part of its total IGR, it breached the public accounting principle and the Treasury Single Account policy of the federal government.
He expressed concern that the allegation was not only grave, but worthy of investigation by the House, especially in the face of the paucity of funds and the economic crunch the government is currently passing through.
The lawmaker also expressed worry that the non-remittances by PPPRA have accumulated for several years, thus undermining the federal government’s drive to fight corruption and ensure that there are no leakages in governance.
Ihonvbere said the lack of transparency in public sector accounting occasioned by fiscal indiscipline by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government has continued to affect government's finances and encourage corruption, abuse of power, inefficiency and impunity.
After the consideration of the motion, the House directed the committee to probe the claim.