Solomon Olamilekan
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts heard on Wednesday how the Budget Office of the Federation allegedly transferred N791m to the bank account of the National Teachers’ Institute without any request for funds by the institute.
The Bursar of the institute, Mallam Abdulkarim Affo, informed the committee that the management of the institute was surprised at the development.
Affo said the money was lodged in the NTI account on December 31, 2012 through a transfer from the controversial Service Wide Vote.
The committee, which is chaired by Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, is investigating the withdrawal of N4.7tn from the SWV from 2004 to 2014.
Affo stated that what the institute did was to return the money immediately to the government treasury since it could not defend the transaction.
He said, “On December 31, 2012, we just received an alert that a sum of N791m was credited to the institute’s bank account from the budget office without any prior request for financial assistance from the Federal Government.
“We tried to make enquiries and we wrote to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to find out what was the purpose of the whopping amount, but all efforts yielded no result.
“At the end of the day, what the institute did was to pay back the money to the treasury at the Central Bank of Nigeria as required by the law of the federation.
“We have the evidence of payment; we never made a request for any money.”
However, Olamilekan directed the bursar to produce the treasury receipt and other evidence to prove that the money was, indeed, returned.
He observed that the disclosure of the NTI bursar followed a pattern of “fraudulent acts” by the budget office, which were being investigated by the committee.
The lawmaker added, “Only last week, NAFDAC officials appeared before the committee over the whopping sum of N5bn claimed to have been released to the agency by the budget office. But, the agency claimed it received only N365m from the amount.
“Also, just a while ago, the National Boundary Commission appeared before the committee over the N2bn the budget office claimed it released to it, which the commission also denied ever receiving a kobo from the budget office.
“It is disheartening that the National Assembly approved about N2.1tn for the Service Wide Vote Account in the period under review, but at the last count, over N4.7tn had been expended by the executive.”
Meanwhile, the House has expressed concern over the nine per cent lending rate the Central Bank of Nigeria fixed for microfinance banks.
In a resolution, the House said the rate “seems rather high, considering the group of people the fund is meant for.”
“They are mainly artisans, small farmers engaged in subsistence farming and small scale business owners,” it added.
The lawmakers noted that microfinance banks were already charging between 30 and 40 per cent interest on funds.
They said giving the banks additional powers to fix higher rates could lead to an abuse in the sector the banks were to finance.
Following a motion by Mr. Patrick Ikhariale, the House directed its Committee on Banking/Currency to liaise with the CBN and ensure that the N220bn available to the banks was not misused.
In another resolution, the House noted that the 100 per cent import duty imposed on rice importation had led to increased smuggling of the commodity into the country.
Members observed that the good intention of the Federal Government to stimulate local production with the policy was not yielding the desired results.
A member from Kano State, Mr. Nasiru Baballe, advised the government to implement the agreement it reached with stakeholders on the duty implementation.
The lawmaker added, “The good intention of the Federal Government has been sabotaged by unquantifiable smuggling at a rate never witnessed in the past.
“Over three million tonnes of parboiled rice were smuggled into Nigeria in 2013 through Benin Republic. This culminated in that country gaining over N200bn in dutiable levy.
“To further worsen the situation for Nigeria, Benin Republic deliberately removed 18 per cent VAT on all parboiled rice imports destined for Nigeria, while the duty of 12.5 per cent is to be charged on the benchmark price of only $200 per metric tonne, thereby bringing down the effective duty to only $25 per metric tonne against the $570 per metric tonne dutiable rate being charged at Nigerian ports.
“The Nigeria Customs Service, which is the second largest revenue generating agency of the government, lost over N300bn to the sharp practice of smuggling. It is pertinent to note that import duty on rice is the major source of revenue to the Service.”
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