According to an audit report from the office of the Auditor General of the federation on Wednesday, three major revenue-generating agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), failed between them to remit roughly N1.5 trillion to the federation account in 2017.
In percentage terms, the amount in question represents 23.44% (nearly a quarter) of the entire N6.4 trillion generated by government’s revenue collection agencies in 2017.
According to the 320-page report, the N1.5 trillion was deducted approval in breach of constitutional provisions.
Specifically, NNPC generated N2.41 trillion in the period under review from which it deducted N1.3 trillion before transferring the remaining N1.07 trillion to the federation account.
On its part, the FIRS remitted N2.45 trillion out of the N2.66 trillion it generated. Out of the N733.05 billion the DPR generated, the report confirmed it paid N26.77 billion to a royalty account while the rest N706 billion was transferred to the federation account.
Anthony Ayine, the nation’s Auditor General who signed the report, lamented that the illegal deductions had put paid to the efforts to fund the three tiers of government effectively.
Mr Ayine advocated that deduction from source, a violation of Section 162 of the 1999 constitution, be stopped, calling on the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to do so. Moreover, he prescribed sanction for the erring agencies as a measure for checking recurrence.