From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has queried the non-remittances of revenue generated by some agencies classified as Government- Own Enterprises (GOEs) to the Federation Account. 

Speaking at a retreat on the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) Post-Mortem Sub-Committee in Asaba, Delta State capital, the chairman of the Commission, Mohammad Bello Shehu, regretted that the contribution of revenues from the non-oil sector to the federation account looks impressive from 2019 to 2022, saying that findings by the Commission in the course of carrying out its constitutional mandate of monitoring revenues to the federation account indicated that more revenues are yet to be remitted into the federation account from public sector, private sector and the government itself (Federal and State Government tax Liabilities). 

To this extent, he said that there is a need to improve the revenue generation from the non–oil sector to the Federation Account. 

Bello assured that the commission must ensure that all the unremitted revenues must be recovered.

“On the part of the commission, we are already working in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the unremitted revenues are recovered to the Federation Account as soon as possible.

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“Section 162 and 162 (10) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) as regards public revenues is very clear. Also, the legal opinions of the Attorney General of the Federal and Minister of Justice on this position are clear. I also call on the post-mortem to critically look at this issue in the course of the deliberation” the chairman said.

Meanwhile, stakeholders resolved that the shareholding of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited should reflect the vertical allocation formula for the federal, state and local governments;

NNPC Limited should not charge additional fees for lifting and selling royalty and tax oil on behalf of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS);

The RMAFC should look into the charge of 10 per cent as management fees and another 30 per cent Frontier Exploration Fund before remitting profit oil and gas into the Federation Account.

Participants also decided that any unutilised money from the operations of NUPRC or any other agency should be paid into the Federation Account at the end of the year contrary to the provisions of section 47 (4) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and in accordance with section 162 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended);

 They urged the government to streamline the regulatory roles of the NUPRC and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) to remove any envisaged duplication of functions to ensure smooth operation of the sector.