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.

Rape: Senate considers bill to stop stigmatisation of victims

The House of Senate is considering a bill to stop the stigmatisation of rape victims.

Although we really don't know how this is going to be achieved, reports have it that the bill has passed a second reading at the house of senate.

The title of the bill is self-explanatory:

"A Bill for an Act to Prohibit the Stigmatisation of Victims of Rape and Insurgency in order to encourage victims of rape to testify in court and victims of insurgency to be reintegrated into the community of his or her choice."

The bill was sponsored by Niger State’s Sani Musa, and was first read in the House in December 2019.

The bill will “provide a new lease of life for victims of rape,” the senator said, but little has been said about how exactly this ban on stigmatisation will work.

Another senator, Sandy Onor of Cross River, added that the bill “is action not words.” We must ensure that prosecution for rape and brutality against women is accelerated in our judicial process. Let justice be served in a way it should be served.

One would assume that an education, not a ban, would be the way to stop people from stigmatising against rape and insurgency. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what punishments this bill has for those declared erring.

Senate to consider revised 2020 budget on Thursday

The Senate has disclosed that it is set to consider the revised 2020 budget on Thursday, 11th June, 2020. The hint was given by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan.

According to a statement, this happened on Wednesday during plenary after the Committee on Appropriation laid the report on the 2020 revised budget.

“Tomorrow, we can receive and consider the report to ensure that we don’t delay anything as important as that. So, this is the essence of altering the order paper,” Lawan said.

On Tuesday, the Senate deferred the presentation of the report over a delay by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, to provide details for the sum of N186 billion, an amount which is part of the N500 billion COVID-19 intervention fund.

Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Barau Jibrin, on Tuesday, had explained to his colleagues that the Finance Ministry was yet to comply with the request of the Committee by attaching necessary details for the amount to be captured as part of the 2020 budget amendment bill.

However, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday disclosed that the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning had complied with the request of the Appropriations Committee by providing the relevant details for the outstanding N186 billion.

“The development, according to him, makes it expedient for the upper chamber to consider the revised 2020 budget on Thursday during plenary,” the statement added.

Senate defends appointments made by Buhari

The Senate has shut critics of the Presidency and defended the appointments that have been made so far by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. These appointments were of course, approved by the red chamber.

Addressing journalists on Tuesday after plenary, the spokesperson for the Upper Chamber, Dr Ajibola Basiru described the claims that Buhari’s appointment was lopsided as “beer parlour talks".

He urged Nigerians to assess the various appointments made by Buhari based on geopolitical zones instead of looking at them from whether the appointee is from the North or South.

On Tuesday, the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, and two senators from Akwa Ibom State openly protested against two appointments made by Buhari, alleging clear cases of nepotism in the choice of the nominees.

But while specifically reacting to the Senate confirmation of a northerner, who is Buhari’s nominees for the position of the Chairman of the Board of Federal Character Commission when the Secretary is already from the North, Basiru said the two officials are from different geopolitical zones. He said, 

“Please do a tabulation of all appointments to be filled up by the Federal Government and the ones that have been done and show empirically, scientifically, how it has been lopsided

I will not with due respect, rely on what people colloquially call, beer parlor discussion.

I want to tell you too that politicians can be mischievous, I am not saying any senator is mischievous.

When you talk of the North we have three zones – North-Central, North-East, and North-West – but when people want to be mischievous when the appointment comes from the North Central and they want to just make it look as if is from the North, they will say this one is also for the North but when it suits them, then they will talk of South East and South West.”

Senate refutes allegations of culpability in NDDC fraud

The senate has refuted allegations that Senators and Members of House of Representative are the brains behind the fraud in NDDC by the executive Director of Projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under the Interim Management Committee (IMC) Dr. Cairo Ojougboh was said to have so alleged.

He said it clearly smacks of cheap blackmail predicated on a falsehood. This was contained in a statement that was signed by the Senate’s Spokesperson senator Dr Ajibola Basiru and was made available to journalists yesterday.

He said that the National Assembly will not succumb to cheap blackmail from any quarters and is committed to ensuring probity and accountability of all agencies of government no matter whose ox is gored.

The spokesperson said they are at a loss as to why Dr. Ojougboh has repeatedly made such allegations at a time when the NDDC is under the scrutiny of forensic audit and investigation by the National Assembly.

“The Senate is even more surprised considering the fact that the allegations are baseless and unsubstantiated.

Apparently Dr. Cairo Ojougboh is ignorant of the constitutional mandate of the National Assembly to carry out oversight function over all agencies expending government resources with a view to exposing and preventing corruption and abuse.

It stands logic in the head to claim that by invoking it’s the constitutional power of oversight to investigate the activities of the IMC, the National Assembly intends to scuttle forensic audit. The outlandish claim is illogical."

He said clearly there is no adverse relationship between the oversight function of the National Assembly and a forensic audit.

Basiru said the National Assembly is committed to repositioning the NDDC to address the challenges of the Niger Delta through facilitating the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta.

The spokesperson said that does not mean the Senate would not be concerned about the allegations of poor management or outright fraud in the management of the funds and operations of the commission. According to him,

“The setting up of the investigation is predicated on the above concern and not to victimise or witch hunt anyone adding that it was in that regards that the National Assembly accorded the executives the necessary cooperation that will facilitate the completion of the forensic audit.

Dr. Cairo Ojougboh as a former member of the House of Representatives should know that the National Assembly is vested with the powers of appropriation for all government ministries, departments and agencies including the NDDC.

It will appraise the budget and its operations of the Commission like other agencies to entrench a culture of transparency and accountability.”

He said for the allegations in respect of the budget, to have been brought up in the wake of exercise of oversight function by the National Assembly is suspect

“Also, one would have expected an organisation of integrity to have formally made complaints to the anti-corruption agencies of the purported allegations against Senators and Members of House of Representative of the NDDC committees if there are facts to substantiate same.

The Senate and indeed the National Assembly is also committed to exercising its constitutional mandate and will not be cowed by spurious allegations of the likes of Dr. Cairo Ojougboh."

Senate moves to avert any form of emergency food crisis

The Bill is sponsored by Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (APC Nasarawa -West). Adamu, while underscoring the need for the diversification of the Nigerian economy, said there was need for enabling laws to address the problem of food insecurity.

According to him, the food reserve agency when established, would be responsible for storing food grains and other food commodities for strategic purposes. He said,

“Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the development and growth of every nation. Any country seeking to diversify its economy, alleviate poverty, create jobs and ensure food security should prioritise agriculture.

Nigeria, recognising the important role Agriculture plays, has made efforts to place the sector at the fore by introducing different intervention programmes and policies backed by enabling laws. A further step to be taken to ensure food security in our country at all times is to formulate enabling laws that will address food insecurity."

He added that the food reserve agency when established would implement the overall National Food Reserve Policy to ensure a reliable supply of designated commodities in the country.