N8.13trn Missing in the Nigeria Federation Account

The National Economic Council (NEC) comprising the federating
states and government at the centre on Thursday raised an alarm
that N8.13 trillion was missing from the federation account.
They linked the missing funds to under remittances into the
federation account from oil earnings with the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) being the chief culprit.
The discoveries followed an audit by KPMG, which looked into
remittances by revenue generating agencies in the country.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday presided over the
National Economic Council, NEC.
Recall that in recent times government have complained of
difficulties in meeting their salary obligations, however, they had
kept mum over the matter in order not to elicit controversies.
Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State while briefing State
House correspondents at the end of the meeting said various
revenue generating agencies shortchanged the government of
N526 billion and $21 billion between 2010 to 2015.
Dankwambo, who chaired NEC Ad hoc committee on remittances,
said the infractions were identified by KPMG who were contracted
to carry out a forensic audit of revenue remittances to the
Federation Accounts by the NEC.
He said his committee briefed NEC on the findings and it was
resolved that the audit period be extended up to June 2017.
The Gombe governor said the financial audit consultancy firm of
KPMG which covered 18 revenue generating agencies were found
to be culpable of under remittances.
The agencies included the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC; Federal Inland revenue Service, FIRS; Nigeria
Customs Service, NCS and Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.
Others include Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency, NIMASA; Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC;
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Department of Petroleum Resources,
DPR; Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC and
several others.
Dankwambo said a subcommittee will be set up to look at the
details of the infringements. Those that are criminal in nature will
be handed over to office of the Attorney General of the Federation
(AGF) for action.
Dankwambo said, “KPMG presented the report of the technical
audit of RGAs concluding that a total sum of N526 billion and USD
$21 billion was under-paid to the Federation Account.
“NEC’s Ad-hoc Committee chaired by Gombe State Governor with
members including Governors of Edo, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Lagos
and the Finance Minister recommended refund of the amounts
under-paid.
“Council adopted the presentations and reports of the KPMG and
the recommendations of its Ad-hoc Committee including a
resolution to identify instances where there appears to have been
criminal infringements and forward such to the Attorney-General of
the Federation and the Legal Committee of the National Economic
Council for further action.
“Council resolved to pursue strengthening of the NNPC governance
structure to prevent further recurrence of such gross under-
remittance by the NNPC and other RGAs.”
On the resolution of NEC to extend audit to June 2017, the Gombe
governor said, “One of the resolutions of NEC today is to extend
the audit to June 2017. So the audit will continue for the remaining
agencies. It is NNOC, NPDC, DPR, Customs, Federal Internal
Revenue Services, NPA, Maritime Authorities, all the revenue-
generating agencies and the details of the infringement are
contained in the report. Because it is voluminous report there are a
lot of items that are there.