- As Buhari says never again will wanton stealing be allowed in Nigeria
Apparently disturbed by the inability of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to give account of an alleged missing $60.3 billion Petroleum Profit Tax and Royalty revenues, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions yesterday resolved to conduct an investigative hearing into the missing money.
This resolution followed the failure of the CBN and FIRS to appear before members of the Public Petitions Committee to defend the alleged infractions after turning down 14 invitations.
The petitioner, Mr Fidelis Uzonwanne a chartered accountant with Synergy Resources Nigeria Limited, told members of the committee: ‘’From 2004 to 2016, over $60 billion of PPTP and royalty revenues were unaccounted for by the CBN.”
According to the petitioner, the CBN and Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, had failed to appear before members of the committee to defend their submissions upon realising that their secret had been unveiled.
“We discovered that something was going wrong and we approached the CBN to take actions to remedy those infractions but it remained adamant, probably that is how they benefit from the system,” the petitioner said.
Chairman of the Committee, Uzoma Abonta (Abia-PDP), however, expressed worry over the failure of the CBN to appear before the committee to defend its submission on the alleged infractions. “Because the CBN, FIRS and the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, have repeatedly failed to appear, the committee will be left with nothing than to deem it fit to work with materials before it.
“We will conduct a public hearing on the matter and we will compel them to appear because what we are trying to do is to have a situation where all the loopholes for leakages are blocked.
“The committee will make public its findings via newspaper publications, inviting all the stakeholders to a public hearing to tell Nigerians where the petroleum products tax profit is kept.
“The missing money is enough to fund our national budget and the apex bank and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, must give us all the details,’’ he said.
In the meantime, President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday inaugurated a Presidential Committee to audit all recovered looted funds in the country, declaring that never again would wanton embezzlement and diversion of funds be allowed in the country
Inaugurating the Audit Committee at the First Lady’s Conference room, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari said his decision to inaugurate the Committee on the Recovery and management of stolen assets within and outside Nigeria was the next step in ensuring that all returns filed by the various agencies were accurate and consistent with actual recoveries made.
He said the Committee was expected to judiciously undertake an audit of all recovery accounts established by government agencies from the date of opening such accounts up to 10th April, 2017.
President Buhari, who noted that the details of the Committee’s functions were contained in the terms of reference stated that it was the resolve of his administration from the onset to pursue a strong and effective anti-corruption regime.
He said in view of the multiple cases of mis-managed and misappropriated national assets identified by the administration upon assumption of office, the Federal Government embarked on tracing and recovering of all such stolen assets within and outside Nigeria using all legal and diplomatic resources at its disposal.
According to him: “The gains of our initiatives over the past two and a half years have been very obvious to all Nigerians. This is clear from the level of investigation, prosecution and forfeitures involving both public and private sector officials in the country. The message has therefore been passed loud and clear that never again as a nation are we going to allow the wanton diversion and embezzlement of public funds to private pockets.
Nigerians will further recall that pursuant to requisite directives, recovered assets are progressively being returned to designated accounts by the anti-graft agencies and other agencies of government involved with the process.
“In the course of implementing this exercise and given the number of agencies concurrently pursuing specialized initiatives and making recoveries for government, it has become obvious that fundamental gaps still exist in ensuring that the recovered assets are accounted for, and managed in an accurate, transparent and logical manner.”
President Buhari further stated that it was in realization of that and his determination to ensure that in pursuing the anti-graft war, “we do not create new room for dishonorable conduct by any individual or agency that I directed, earlier in the year, that all agencies should send in detailed reports of all their recovered assets as at March, 2017.”
On the reason for the audit committee, he said: “The decision to inaugurate this Audit Committee on the Recovery and Management of Stolen Assets within and Outside Nigeria today is therefore the next step in ensuring that all returns filed by the various agencies are accurate and consistent with actual recoveries made.
‘’The Committee, in essence, is therefore expected to judiciously undertake an audit of all recovery accounts established by government agencies from the date of opening such accounts up to 10th April, 2017. The details of the Committee’s functions are as set out in your Terms of Reference.”
Vanguard
