The Federal Government at the weekend disclosed it paid N45, 999,999,865 to oil marketers on the platform of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) from December 2015 to date.
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun disclosed this in a document highlighting the activities of her ministry in the last 24 months.
According to her, the claims were paid after thorough verification to ensure steady supply of petroleum products nationwide.
“The Federal Government took measures aimed at settling outstanding debts owed to members of the DAPPMA. An inter-agency Committee under the leadership of Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) was set up to verify the claims. Other members of the Committee are the Nigeria Customs Service, Debt Management Office, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and Budget Office of the Federation.
“The Committee verified and recommended some payments to members of DAPPMA and has thus far made remarkable savings for the Federal Government.
“The number of marketers verified is 72 and totals claims is N45, 999,999,865. Savings made so far is N887, 108,43 and 1.5 per cent palliative to FGN warehoused to date stands at N1, 014,345,777,” Adeosun stated in the report.
She further said that PICA, in the course of its investigation, discovered that 196 foreign service officers continued to receive salaries after exiting the federal service.
“The sum of N192 million was collected by these officers as salaries even after leaving the service. The case was handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and recovery of the aforementioned funds on completion of the investigation,” she added.
On the whistleblowing policy scheme developed by the finance ministry in December 2016 to help fight corruption, Adeosun disclosed that over 2,500 reports have been made through various reporting channels as at July 2017, with 365 being actionable tips.
“144 representing 39 per cent of the actionable tips relate to misappropriation and diversion of funds/revenue, 16 per cent (60 tips) relate to ghost workers, illegal recruitment and embezzlement of funds meant for personnel emolument.
“15 per cent (56) relate to violation of TSA regulation, 13 per cent (49) relate to contract inflation/violation of the Procurement Act. Others include failure to carry out projects for which funds have been released and nine per cent (34) relate to non-remittance of pension and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) deductions.”
According to the minister, others include concealed bail-out funds and embezzlement of funds from donor agencies.
She disclosed that N375.8 million had been paid as reward for 20 whistleblowers in the first batch payment, while payment for the next batch would soon be made.
Adeosun, in her report also disclosed that the government saved N30, 280,863,588 after it successfully audited Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to make them leaner and more efficient.
On unpaid pension entitlements, she said she inherited outstanding 2014-2016 arrears.
She also confirmed that N12.5 billion being outstanding for January, February and March 2017 had been settled based on 2016 appropriation, bringing the tally to over N54 billion.
With regards to the Voluntary Asset Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), Adeosun disclosed that as at May 2017, the total number of taxpayers in Nigeria was 14 million out of an estimated 70 million who are economically active. While disclosing that number of tax payers has increased, she said over N17 billion has been realised since the launch of VAIDS.
“VAIDS yielded over $50 million in revenue between June 29, 2017 when it was launched and October 31, 2017, she stated.
Two foreign companies have also agreed to pay $110 million in regularizing their tax status. About $1 billion additional revenue is being targeted from the scheme. Already, the Federal Government has recruited and trained 2,190 Community Tax Liaison Officers (CTLOs) under the Scheme. Of the 2,190 CTLOs, 1,710 have been deployed to 33 States to raise awareness about the scheme and taxation in general. The States include Adamawa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun and Oyo, among others”, she noted
Adeosun said tax defaulters risk imprisonment of up to five years once the VAIDS window shuts on March 31, 2018
“Aside jail, there are also severe extra penalties – up to 100% of the outstanding tax due, compound interest at 21% per annum, forfeiture of assets”, she added.
|Sun
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