House Probes Alleged Under-remittance of Revenues into Federation Account

The House of Representatives on Tuesday commenced a four-day public hearing on the alleged under-remittance of revenue into the federation account by some agencies.

The probe is being conducted by the House Ad Hoc Committee on Under-Remittance of Revenue chaired by Hon. James Faleke (APC Kogi)

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the committee’s work yesterday, the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, said the committee was formed following a resolution of the House to look into the alleged under remittance.

The Speaker said the committee’s report would guide the House to make further resolutions with the view to averting further under remittance of revenue into federation account, stating that at this period when government is making efforts towards diversification of the economy, it is disheartening to hear repeated cases of under remittance of revenue by agencies required to generate and manage the revenue.

Dogara said the Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting was cancelled three times in March as a result of disagreements over non remittance of funds by some agencies, saying the situation led to delays in payment of salaries of government workers across the country among others.

He said with the dwindling funds from the oil sector, it was important to close up all leakages in revenue, urging participants at the hearing to demonstrate patriotism by being opened and candid in their submissions for posterity.

The Speaker also urged the committee to demonstrate commitment to the assignment so that the House would achieve the purpose for which it was setup.

On his part, the committee chairman thanked stakeholders for honouring invitation for the event, while commending the House for finding the committee worthy of the responsibility of carrying out the investigation.

Faleke added that the committee was mindful of the huge task ahead and pledged to be committed to the course, adding that the current state of affairs in Nigeria shows a crunch and cash-strapped economy that seems to be crawling at a slow pace out of recession.

According to him, “This has occasioned a bizarre situation where state governments can barely pay salaries, while borrowing takes a large chunk of government spending.

“Overall budgetary expenditure being adversely affected by dwindling revenue, yet the current system has continuously encouraged unpatriotic Nigerians to device ways of diverting our revenue for personal use.’’

The legislator said as representatives of the people, it was the responsibility of the House to put in place mechanism that would forestall further corruption in the system.

He added: “We will discharge our duty without fear or favour,’’ expressing hope that the outcome of the public hearing would reposition revenue generating system at all levels.

Some of the agencies represented at the hearing were Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority and Nigerian Communications Commission.