THE Nigerian government lost over N37 billion to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and seven other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in 2020, as shown by the Auditor-General’s Report for the year.
The MDAs, in addition to the NCS, include the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Internal Revenue Service, Niger Delta Basin Development Authority, Port Harcourt, and Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.
Others listed include the Securities and Exchange Commission Abuja, Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment and Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.
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According to the report, government revenue amounting to N37.1 billion was not accounted for by these MDAs in 2020, despite existing laws mandating them to do so.
“Paragraph 2 of the Treasury Circular Ref No. TRY/A1 & B1/2015 OAGF/CAD/026/V.1/253 dated 19th March 2015 states, ‘with effect from 1st April 2015, all payments due to the Federal Government or any of her agencies are to be paid into the consolidated revenue fund (CRF) or designated accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through deposit money banks (DMBs) or electronic channels using the CBN payment gateway. This is in line with the operations of the treasury single accounts (TSA) and the e-payment policies of the Federal Government.
“Also, paragraph 213(ii) of the Financial Regulations (FR) 2009 states, ‘On no account shall any withdrawal be made from the revenue account other than for the purpose of transfer to the consolidated account.'” the report noted.
Lagos NCS responsible for nearly 90% of unaccounted revenue
The Lagos State Command of the NCS is responsible for nearly 90 per cent of the N37 billion not accounted for by the institutions, as the agency could not explain how it expended government revenue worth N32.3 billion.
“Nigeria Customs Service, Tincan Island Command, Lagos has the highest amount of N32,356,205,228.00,” the report stated.
The Niger Delta Basin Development Authority, Port-Harcourt, had the least sum, with N26.7 million not accounted for.
Non-remittance of IGR worth N3.6bn
Similarly, 11 MDAs did not remit N3.6 billion of their internally generated revenue (IGR) in 2020, according to the audit report.
According to the audit, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Abuja, owes half of this sum, as it did not remit N1.14 billion during the year under review.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.