Foreign tax - Senate summons CBN, FIRS

The managements of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has been issued fresh summons by the Senate Public Accounts Committee.

This was made known by the Chairman of SPAC, Senator Matthew Urhoghide on Saturday.

Urhoghide said the committee queried the CBN last week when it discovered that it did not remit  $3.3 billion from the $21.3bn collected by the FIRS as foreign tax in 2015, into the Federation Account.

He said the Senate panel acted on an audit query raised against the CBN by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.

Quoting the audit query, Urhoghide said while the FIRS recorded $21.3bn as the total foreign tax collected by it in 2015 and domiciled in the apex bank, the CBN, on the other hand, recorded $18bn.

He said the CBN, following the committee’s directive, had submitted some documents to defend its claims.

The senator said a formal invitation had been sent to both the CBN and the FIRS to appear before it whenever the Senate reconvened to defend their separate claims. He said, 

“Based on the report before us from the Auditor- General for the Federation, there is a huge difference between the account of the FIRS and that of the CBN.

The FIRS gave an amount which is higher than what the CBN presented. The CBN said the amount it gave was based on an exchange rate which was different from that of the FIRS.

The foreign tax came in dollars and at that time, the FIRS said it calculated the foreign currency with a particular exchange rate and we discovered that the difference in the exchange rate adopted in calculating the foreign tax by the two agencies was huge.

It is almost half of the money we are talking about; we then asked them to bring the necessary documents that must tell us the exact amount collected in foreign currency,  the exact period the money came in and the approved exchange rate at that time.

Already, the CBN has submitted some documents but we have yet to scrutinise them. We believe it should be part of the documents we are expecting. We want to know the exchange rate at that time. The point is that, what the CBN is declaring is different from what the FIRS was expecting them to declare.

While the FIRS is insisting on its own naira equivalent of the money as of the time it was paid, the CBN is declaring a different figure.

So, we want to know whether the exchange rate then was N197 to $1 or not. We summoned them again and asked them to come and defend the documents they presented to us.”

The Senate had last week Wednesday queried the CBN  over an alleged unremitted $3.3bn from the $21.3bn collected by the FIRS as foreign tax in 2015.

Urhoghide had asked the CBN to explain the shortfalls and the Deputy Governor (Corporate Affairs) of the bank, Mr Edward  Adamu, did so but the panel appeared unconvinced by his explanations.

CBN suspends intervention loan repayment for one year

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said it is giving one-year moratorium on all principal repayments for COVID-19 intervention loans through its participating Other Financial Institutions with effect from March 1, 2020.

The apex bank said this in a circular signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Kevin Amugo, on Wednesday.

It also stated that as part of its continued efforts to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on households, businesses and regulated institutions, it had reduced interest rates on its facilities through the participating OFIs from nine per cent to five per cent per annum for one year effective March 1, 2020.

“The CBN intervention facilities obtained through participating OFIs will be given a further one-year moratorium on all principal repayments, also effective March 1, 2020,” it stated.

According to the circular, the OFIs have also been granted leave to consider temporary and time-limited restructuring of the tenor and loan terms for households and businesses affected by COVID-19, subject to the recently issued guidelines for restructuring affected credit facilities in the OFI subsector.

The Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said the management’s approval for the restructuring of credit facilities in the OFI subsector was in line with the bank’s desire to alleviate strain on households, businesses and regulated institutions triggered by the lockdown due to COVID-19.

He explained that the CBN would also continue to monitor developments and implement appropriate measures to ensure financial stability and support stakeholders impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement added that the Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the CBN for the month of May 2020 would hold on Thursday.

CBN, others donate medical equipment to Kogi

The private sector-led Coalition Against COVID-19 said it had donated health equipment worth millions of naira to a new isolation centre established in Lokoja by the Kogi State Government.

CACOVID said the donation of the equipment was a joint initiative between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the leaderships of other private sector groups in the country.

It said in a statement that the presentation of the equipment was done by a representative, Mr Toyin Idowu, alongside the inauguration of the new isolation centre by the state government.

Idowu explained that the gesture was aimed at joining hands with the federal and state governments to rid the country of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the United Bank for Africa Plc announced on Sunday that the President of Senegal, Macky Sall; the President of Liberia, George Weah, and US Senator Chris Coons would form part of a high-level leadership panel to discuss Africa’s economic recovery in the 2020 edition of UBA’s Africa Conversations.

The bank said the discussion, which would be held online on Monday, would be moderated by its Chairman and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr Tony Elumelu.

According to a statement issued by the bank, the second edition of the symposium organised annually by UBA is in celebration of Africa Day.