BY Bunmi Aduloju
The house of representatives’ ad hoc committee on unclaimed funds in commercial banks has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) to pay N13.3 billion into the federation account.
The committee also directed the authority to reconcile its account at a public hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Uyime Idem, chairman of the committee, said it had given NEPZA more than enough time to reconcile its account and that it would not hesitate to coerce NEPZA into complying with the directive.
He said the law required the agency to pay 80 percent of its internally generated revenue (IGR) into government coffers.
The lawmaker said available documents in the committee’s possession suggested that NEPZA was yet to remit N13.3 billion into the federation account.
Responding to the directive, NEPZA said it did not owe the federation account any money and that the money being demanded was a miscalculation by a consultant engaged to audit its accounts.
Oyeshola Oyekunle, director, finance, NEPZA, said the agency remitted N3.92 billion into the federation account instead of N2.3 billion.
Oyekunle said the excess resulted from a circular from the ministry of finance mandating the agency to pay 25 percent of its operating surplus into the government accounts.
He said the N13.3 billion being demanded was not properly calculated, adding that the consultants that prepared the documents, considered personnel cost as IGR.
Oyekunle added that he had made several efforts to meet with the consultants but they had always been out of reach.
The committee adjourned the decision on the issue to September 1.
In a related development, the committee mandated the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to present evidence of its annual financial reports between 2013 and 2021.
It also requested PTAD to provide treasury receipts showing remitted amounts or evidence of “mop-ups’’ of unspent surpluses between 2013 and 2021 and other relevant documents.
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