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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, yesterday, queried the management of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) over alleged concealment of revenue generated between 2014- 2015.
The query came followed the inability of the PPPRA, which appeared before the House Committee on Finance, to account for revenues it generated during the period.
Chairman of the committee, Abiodun Faleke, who spoke at the hearing accused the PPPRA of undermining the Federal Government’s quest to raise adequate funds to finance the 2020 Appropriation Act.
The Committee on Finance invited the PPPRA as part of its ongoing invention on the level of compliance by revenue generating agencies of government in their remittances into the Consolidated Revenue Fund( CRF).
Faleke accused the PPPRA of concealing facts from the committee and threatened to sanction the firm.
“You are hiding facts from us. It is either you are not competent or whatever you are doing here is deliberate. We will recommend appropriate sanction. You are sitting on Nigeria’s money even when you know Nigeria cannot finance its capital budget beyond 20 per cent. You have stayed on this seat for too long. Remember we have a new sheriff in town. We are not here to joke. What we want is a system where we can finance our budget. If your agency alone is sitting on N500 million yearly based on your declaration in 2014 alone, then what is the essence of PPPRA? “ Faleke queried.
PPPRA General Manager, Finance, Peter Joshua, who was grilled for over two hours admitted that the agency failed to remit N501million in 2014.
He said the PPPRA generated N2.87 billion in 2014, out of which it remitted N207 million, instead of the N708.9 million it ought to remit.
Joshua, while responding to questions on the volume of petroleum product consumed daily as at 2014, explained that it ranged from 35 to 40 million litters.
The PPPRA official said the volume of daily consumption products cannot be used as basis to measure the actual revenue collection by the agency .
In its ruling, the committee directed the PPPRA to re- appear before it on the February 27 with its audited statement of account, banks statements of account, outstanding indebtedness by NNPC, independent and major marketers , annual budget from 2011 to date , consumption details, copies of reconciliation with NNPC, all contracts awarded with names of contractors and amount involved from 2011.
Meanwhile, the House Committee on Public Account has placed status enquiry on the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) for failing to submit its audited account to the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation on time.
Chairman of the committee,Wole Oke, stated this at a public hearing in Abuja, yesterday.
Oke said JAMB violated the law by not submitting its audited account for two years and that the status enquiry would enable the committee to investigate and expose irregularities in the accounts of the organisation.
“We will place JAMB on status enquiry, they should furnish this house in writing why their accounts were submitted late. Why should the current registrar sign for the outgoing registrar, they should defend that and they should furnish the procurement records from the external auditor,” Oke said.
