Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (oAuGF) has called on the National Assembly to recover the sum of US$2.021 billion and N13.314 billion revenues accrued from sales of crude oil and gas as well as royalties from

The detail of the audit query was contained in the audit query titled: ‘Unsubstantiated set-off of NPDC claims against Federation (US2,021,411,877.47 and N13,313,565,786.49).

According to the 2020 audit report, the oAuGF said: “Paragraph 213 of the Financial Regulations (FR) 2009 states ‘(1) Each ministry, extra-ministerial office and other arms of government shall maintain a separate bank account for Revenue at the Central Bank of Nigeria or any other designated bank by the Accountant-General.

“The balance of the account shall be transferred to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CFR) account as in Financial Regulation 209.

“(ii) On no account shall any withdrawal be made from the revenue account other than for the purpose of transfer to the consolidated account.

“(iii) Accounting Officers of ministries/extra-ministerial offices and other arms of government who earn revenue in foreign currency are to ensure that such revenue is paid to the Central Bank of Nigeria without exception.”

The oAuGF also observed that: “from the review of highlights of 2020 annual crude oil royalty and Gas, Gas flare payment and concession rentals reconciliation minutes of meeting between DPR (now NUPRC) and NPDC that: the sum of US$2,021,411,877.47 from outstanding Royalty from Crude Oil and Gas sales and Gas flare, were reported as set-off of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company’s (NPDC) claims against the Federation per inter-agency reconciliation for 2020.

“The sum of US$413,313.565,786.49 in respect of Gas Sales Royalty (Domestics) was reported as set-off of NPDC’s claim against the Federation as per inter-agency reconciliation for the period under review, but there were no documents to substantiate such claims.

“The unjustifiable set-off drastically reduced the balance of the outstanding liabilities due to be paid by NPDC.

“The above anomalies could be attributed to weaknesses in the internal control system at the DPR (now NUPRC),” the report added.

According to the oAuGF, the risks of the transactions include: “Loss of Government Revenue” and “Difficulty in funding 2020 budget.”

In the management’s response to the three audit queries, “The Department (now Commission) do not have control over the set offs made by Nigerian Petroleum Development Company’s (NPDC) as claims against the Federation per inter-agency reconciliation meetings.”

Hence, the oAuGF recommended that: “The Director/CEO (now Commission Chief Executive – CCE) should be requested to: Account for the set-off of US$2,021,411,877.47 and US$613,313,565,786.49 claims against the Federation by NPDC.

“Recover the sum of US$2,021,411,877.47 and N13,313,565,786.49 from NPDC and pay back to the Federation Account.

“Forward evidence of recovery and remittance to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly; otherwise, sanctions relating to failure to collect and account for Government Revenue prescribed in paragraph 3112 (11) of the Financial Regulations should apply,” it said. (Nigerian Tribune)

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