The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday intensified its investigation into revenue remittances by federal agencies, directing the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to provide a comprehensive breakdown of outstanding operating surplus and other revenues allegedly owed to the Federal Government by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, and other government-owned enterprises.

The committee also sought explanations over allegations that the OAGF made deductions from the statutory accounts of several Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including the reported withdrawal of N15bn from the Universal Basic Education Commission, amid concerns that the deductions may have undermined the agencies’ capacity to carry out their statutory responsibilities.

The directives were issued during an investigative hearing at the National Assembly, where the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, appeared alongside senior officials from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The hearing is part of the committee’s broader oversight of public finances and efforts to ensure compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which requires government-owned enterprises to remit a stipulated portion of their operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The operating surplus framework is designed to boost government revenue and reduce financial leakages. However, compliance has remained a persistent challenge, with several agencies over the years accused of under-remitting or failing to remit the required funds altogether.

Opening the session, a member of the committee, Gboyega Isiaka, expressed concern over Nigeria’s weak revenue performance, saying poor compliance with revenue remittance obligations continued to weaken the country’s fiscal position.

Addressing the Accountant-General of the Federation, the lawmaker said, “Considering our GDP, Nigeria’s revenue-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest on the continent, at about 16 per cent. Government-owned enterprises are expected to remit up to 80 per cent of their operating surplus, while others are required to remit between 20 and 50 per cent.”

“From everything we are seeing, there still appears to be a backlog of remittances. Can you provide some figures? Beyond that, as a member of the economic management team, how satisfied are you with the performance of agencies such as the CBN, SEC, NIMASA, and others, considering the scale of assets they manage?

“It is not enough to say they remitted 80 per cent of their surpluses. What exactly is the surplus they are declaring? We need to examine that against the assets under their control, as well as the revenues they ought to have paid but have not.”

Responding, the Director of Revenue and Investment at the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Makinde Mogaji, disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria allegedly owed the Federal Government N5.3tn in unremitted operating surplus.

According to him, previous efforts by the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee to recover the funds had been unsuccessful.

“Early last year, the CBN was owing the Federal Government N5.3tn as operating surplus. Despite the efforts of the Public Accounts Committee to recover the money, it has not been paid.

“Seventy per cent of that amount ought to have been remitted, but the CBN refused to pay. That is just one of our major sources of revenue. In contrast, an agency like FAAN has remitted N473bn,” he said.

He, however, acknowledged that the policy had faced resistance from some government agencies, resulting in reviews and, in some instances, reversals of the deductions.

“When we introduced the initiative and generated significant revenue, some agencies sought reversals. Some went to the President, arguing that the deductions were excessive. In some cases, the deductions were cancelled entirely; in others, they were reduced.

“We have continued to manage those issues, which is one reason we have not been able to sustain the level of collections achieved last year. There were also instances where agencies such as the NNPC refused to cooperate to the extent that they had to be asked to leave because of their non-compliance. While NNPCL accepted some of the liabilities, it disputed others, and those issues are still being considered by a post-mortem committee.”

Providing further clarification, Mogaji explained that the auto-deduction framework remains in place and is intended to reconcile the actual operating surplus of government agencies once their audited accounts have been finalised.

“Yes, the auto-deduction system introduced last year is still in operation. It is designed to recover operating surplus in advance, after which agencies compute their actual surplus to determine whether they have been over-deducted or owe additional remittances. The figures we currently have are still subject to reconciliation and should not be regarded as final,” he noted.

The committee, however, questioned the legality and implications of making deductions from the accounts of agencies established to provide essential public services.

The Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam, cited petitions from the Universal Basic Education Commission and several other agencies alleging that statutory funds had been deducted without timely reimbursement.

Responding, Ogunjimi maintained that the withdrawals were temporary and carried out solely to address urgent government funding needs, with the understanding that the affected agencies would be reimbursed whenever the funds were required.

“There have been occasions when the government needed to meet critical financial obligations, and we temporarily utilised funds belonging to some agencies. It is essentially a loan, and we have been refunding those agencies.

“The Accountant-General cannot arbitrarily withdraw money from agencies’ accounts. We first analyse how long the funds have remained idle, acting on directives from the Honourable Minister. If funds have remained unutilised for several months and the government urgently requires financing, we temporarily deploy them and refund the money when the agency needs it.

“For example, we utilised over N300bn belonging to TETFund and subsequently refunded the entire amount. Whenever an agency requests its funds for approved projects, we process the refund,” he added.

The investigation is expected to continue in the coming weeks as lawmakers seek to ascertain the level of compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, recover outstanding revenues owed to the Federal Government, and determine whether the deductions from the statutory accounts of government agencies were carried out in accordance with the law.