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Tag: Jonah Otunla

  • Court orders forfeiture of N6bn, 12 houses owned by Jonathan’s cousin, aides to FG

    Court orders forfeiture of N6bn, 12 houses owned by Jonathan’s cousin, aides to FG

    Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the temporary forfeiture of N6,584,785,000; $222,000 and Aso Savings Limited shares valued at N2,028,800,000 allegedly derived fraudulently from  proceeds of the sale Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to the Federal Government.

    Justice Dimgba also ordered an interim forfeiture of 12 houses and plots of land located in Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja allegedly bought with part of the loot.

    The judge gave the orders while ruling on an ex-parte motion filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The EFCC alleged that the confiscated property formed part of assets allegedly acquired by some former aides and a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    They were accused of diverting N27, 188,232,208.20 proceeds of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Severance Insurance Premium.

    The seized assets were discovered during “investigations into PHCN Severance Insurance Premium.”

    The judge granted the motion in chambers on Tuesday after it was moved by EFCC’s lawyer, Ben Ikani.

    In his ruling, Justice Dimgba also directed the EFCC to publish the orders in any national daily within 14 days, following which any persons or organisations interested in the assets would be entitled to challenge the court orders.

    He adjourned further hearing in the case till February 6.

    In the ex -parte motion, EFCC named top government officials involved in the said scam to include the ex- Chief of Staff to Jonathan, Brig.-Gen. Arogbofa (retd),  former Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, and ex- Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali.

    Others were – Jonathan’s cousin, Robert Azibaola; a  former Director-General of Bureau for Public Enterprises, Mr. Benjamin Dikki; and a former Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil.

     

  • Fed Govt laments mass ignorance about FIRS roles

    Fed Govt laments mass ignorance about FIRS roles

    The Federal Government has lamented the ignorance of a large number of Nigerian tax payers about proper understanding of the role the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) plays in national development.

    The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Mr. Jonah Otunla raised this issue yesterday in Abuja at the FIRS Stakeholder Engagement Forum.

    Otunla noted that it was the obligation of tax payers to support the FIRS in the effective discharge of its mandate of collecting and accounting for all tax revenues.

    He said: “As the largest economy in Africa, we must leverage our areas of strength to prop up those areas, where we are still lagging behind. To improve revenue collection, we will all need to do more than we are currently doing at the moment.”

    The recent rebasing of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) he said, “shows that our GDP to tax ratio is about  12 per cent, which is below the average of 20 per cent for other emerging economies. It is therefore necessary for the FIRS to engage with all relevant stakeholders to find more effective ways of growing the non-oil tax revenues.”

    The AGF also stated that the Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System (GIFMIS) will now manage the expenditure transactions, including payments of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and that of the FIRS. As a result, he urged the FIRS to utilise the interface with financial systems of MDAs on this platform to enhance revenue collection.

    In his address, the the Ag. Executive Chairman of FIRS Alhaji Kabir Mashi said  “with the assistance of McKinsey, the FIRS has identified eight key initiatives as a platform for achieving our goals. These initiatives are in the areas of audits, arrears and debt enforcement, review of tax exemptions, evasion of rental taxes, taxation of high net worth transactions, registration, filing and communication as a means of enhancing compliance.”

    He said the FIRS has started “to implement these initiatives and we are already seeing results spread across the eight initiatives.”

    The Forum he said “provides an opportunity to solicit the continued cooperation of our stakeholders to ensure that we are able to fulfil our core mandate of revenue generation in a manner that is sustainable and carries everyone along.”

  • AGF protests splitting of office

    AGF protests splitting of office

    The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has protested plans to split its office into two.

    Its opposition is contianed in a memo it sent to the National Conference.

    The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Jonah Otunla, warned in the memo that splitting would defeat the government’s efforts at cutting costs.

    He said: “If the call for the splitting of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is upheld, the good intention of the government to reduce overhead costs in favour of capital cost will be defeated.

    “This will also lead to unnecessary polarisation of the agencies of government.

    “Already, the government is grappling with how to cut down on over bloated size and numbers of government agencies. The government’s overhead cost is not sustainable in view of the urgent need for capital development.”

    He urged the National Conference Committee to note: “The concerns and fears that may inform the calls for the creation of two offices of Accountants-General at the centre have been addressed by checks and balances, control mechanisms and institutional regulatory frameworks, which are already in place through establishment of institutional frameworks.

    “Creating two Offices of Accountant-General at the centre will obviously lead to unnecessary duplication of functions with the consequences of increasing overhead costs, creating conflicts and confusion in the administration and management of financial resources.

    “The creation of two separate offices will be at variance with international best practice which is against duplication of treasury activities.”

    According to him,  the government integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) is fully operational and it is geared towards greater accountability and transparency in the management of the treasury and other financial institutions at the centre.

    He added that there are clearly defined allocation principles and formulae approved by the National Assembly for distribution of revenue among the three tiers of government with clear indices and parameters for sharing revenues horizontally among states and local governments.

    Otunla said: “The establishment of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federal Government would create precedence for eventual demands for the creation of such other offices in the country and this will further increase the cost of governance.

    “Approve the strengthening of the current single structure of the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation to ensure better efficiency and cost effectiveness by formally recognising the office and its roles in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “The Office of the Accountant-General of the states should equally be strengthening and recognised in the Constitution.

    For emphasis, Otunla stated that “the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and other Public Financial Management Reforms by Nigeria has made the country to conform to International best practices in Public Financial Management. The IPSAS Board emphasises the centralisation of treasury activities in all member countries”.

     

     

     

    Therefore, the planned fragmentation of the country’s Treasury he said “will be unconventional and at variance with international Best Practice. Indeed such structure has no parallel in any Federating nations. In India, South Africa, Australia, United States of America and Canada that practice the Federal System, there is only one Treasury and one Accountant-General at the Centre.”

    The AGF added that the Finance (Control and Management) Act 1958 as amended has already separated the Office of the Minister of the Finance from the OAGF, which “provides the opportunity for the OAGF to be further strengthened and made near-autonomous enough to perform all the functions that may be required by all relevant stakeholders.”

    Splitting the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation into two offices Otunla told the National Conference Committee “will lay a bad precedence, which may open a floodgate for demands for the splitting of similar offices and the establishment of such offices as;

     

    ·Auditor-General for the Federal Government

     

    ·Attorney-General of the Federal Government

     

    ·Surveyor-General of the Federal Government

     

    ·Statistician-General of the Federal Government and

     

    ·Secretary to the Federal Government

  • States ratify oil subsidy removal – FAAC

    States ratify oil subsidy removal – FAAC

    The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in Abuja on Tuesday took a decision to remove petroleum subsidy in the country.

    The Chairman of Finance Commissioners Forum, Mr. Timothy Odah, said this when he briefed journalists on the outcome of the FAAC meeting for the month of March in Abuja.

    Odah said at their last meeting, a committee consisting of six Accountants-General of states and six state Commissioners for Finance was set up to conduct investigations and present a report on the impact of the subsidy in the country so far.

    “FAAC in its plenary session finally took a decision that petroleum subsidy should be entirely removed.

    “Because from what was discovered, the subsidy is more or less a solution worse than the problem it is meant to solve.

    “Therefore, we are of the firm decision that it will be better for states to access their funds and grant subsidy in their respective capacity.

    “Our position will be submitted to the Presidency,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the commissioner as saying to journalists.

    Odah cautioned organised labour to be careful in its refusal to rally for the removal of the oil subsidy programme.

    He alleged that most of them were against the removal because they were on the payroll of oil marketers in the country.

    The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Jonah Otunla, said N641.4 billion was shared among the Federal Government, states and local governments as revenue for the month of March.

    “The distributable statutory revenue for the month is N534.91billion, which is more than the N531.33 billion that was shared in February.

    “Also distributed is the sum of N7.62 billion refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to be shared to states and local governments.

    “In addition, the sum of N35.55 billion is proposed for distribution under the SURE-P programme.

    “So, the total revenue distributable for the current month, including Value Added Tax (VAT) of N63.31 billion is N641.38 billion,’’ he said.

     

  • Again, states reject N75b NNPC arrears

    Again, states reject N75b NNPC arrears

    • Shun meeting with AGF

    For the second time in a week, state governments have rejected the Federal Government’s attempt to pay off what is owed them from the Federation Account.

    The Nation gathered that the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Jonah Otunla, called the Chairman of Commissioners Forum to gather his members to Abuja to collect the outstanding N75 billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    In a telephone chat with the Chairman of the Commissioners’ Forum, Timothy Odaah, he confirmed that the AGFcalled a meeting with the other state commissioners of finance in Abuja to share the outstanding N75 billion, but that he rejected the offer, insisting t1hat all the backlog owed the states must be paid.

    Odaah said the planned meeting was an attempt to box-in the states, adding that governors were bent on tabling the matter before President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He said they were being owed N336 billion, with the N75 billion being the balance of the July 2013 arrears, N121 billion from June augmentation and over N90 billion as July augmentation.

    He insisted that the states had already planned for all these monies and entered into financial commitments with contractors, as such the attempt by the Federal Government to offset payments to the states and the local governments in bits was unacceptable to them.

    Odaah, who is the Commissioner for Finance, Ebonyi State, said sharing proceeds of the Federation Account demands that all parties must sign off the agreed sum to be shared before it can be disbursed.

    He said the N75 billion that the AGF had suddenly retrieved from the NNPC did not get the blessing of the state governments and cannot be considered legal since the states did not agree to share it at any meeting.

    On Monday, the Federal Government, through the AGF, raised N548.393 billion as the Statutory Revenue for the three tiers of government for August after it met tough resistance from the state governments. The money was rejected, just as yesterday’s.

    Attempts to get officials of the AGF to confirm or deny the invitation to the state commissioners for finance proved abortive.

  • Nigeria’s revenues ‘tumble’ by 42%

    Nigeria’s revenues ‘tumble’ by 42%

    …Government blames oil theft, production outages

    Nigeria’s government revenues slumped by 42 percent in July due to oil theft and production outages, the accountant general said on Friday, underscoring how oil theft is damaging public finances this year.

    State revenues fell to 498 billion naira ($3 billion), the lowest monthly earnings this year and down from 863 billion naira in June, Reuters reports.

    Oil theft has cut government earnings in several months this year, and by more than last year, and July was particularly badly hit.

    Military in the restless Niger Delta said they are renewing efforts to catch oil thieves, while the Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, disclosed that she is reaching out to foreign governments to help stop the buying of Nigeria’s stolen oil.

    “This was due to continuous theft of crude oil, leakages, pipeline breaks at various terminals, compressor failure and repair work,” Accountant General Jonah Otunla told reporters.