The House of Representatives will investigate an alleged non-remittance of N1.343 trillion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the Consolidated Revenue Account by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
Two members of the House, Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) and Julius Ihonvbere (APC,Edo) made the call for the investigation through a Bill under Matters of urgent public importance.
They argued that the non-remittance of the IGR into the Consolidated Revenue Account domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by PPPRA contravenes Section 162(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He recalled that the Director General, Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, disclosed at a Town Hall meeting with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) in 2018 in Abuja that the PPPRA was the worst culprit in non-remittance as it withheld operating surplus of over N1.34 trillion.
According to him, the alleged N1.343 trillion unremitted PPPRA revenue was part of its IGR which contravenes the Public Accounting Principle and the Treasury Single Account policy of the Federal Government.
They noted that Section 22, Subsection 1 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 (FRA,2007) made it clear 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” and such payments are to be made every year after preparation of Audited Accounts.
The lawmakers further said that Section 22, Subsection 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 corporations.”
