An Ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives has given the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) a seven-day ultimatum to reconcile its account or pay N13.3 billion into the federation account.
The House of Representatives committee on the Recovery of Unclaimed Funds Trapped in Commercial Banks between 2013 and 2021 issued the ultimatum at a public hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Chairman of the committee, Uyime Idem, said it had given NEPZA more than enough time to reconcile its account and that it would not hesitate to compel the agency to comply.
He explained that the law required the agency to pay 80 per cent of its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) into government coffers.
The lawmaker said available documents in the committee’s possession suggested that NEPZA was yet to remit N13.3 billion into the federation account.
NEPZA, however, said it did not owe the federation account any money and that the money being demanded was a miscalculation by a consultant engaged to look into its accounts.
Director, Finance at NEPZA, Dr Oyeshola Oyekunle said that the agency did not owe the federal government.
He explained that within the period, the agency remitted N3.92 billion into the federation account instead of N2.3 billion.
The director said that the excess resulted from a circular from the Ministry of Finance mandating the agency to pay 25 per cent of its operating surplus into government covers.
Oyekunle argued that the N13.3 billion being demanded was not properly calculated saying that the consultants that prepared the documents, considered personnel cost as IGR.
He said that he had made several efforts to meet with the consultants but they had always been out of reach.
The committee adjourned ruling on the issue to Thursday, September 1.
