.Ask NEPZA to refund N13.3bn to FG
.As Nigeria, U.S. sign agreement for return of $23.4m fresh Abacha loot
.House probes attack on Kuje Prison by terrorists
The House of Representatives has invited the Ministers of Power, Finance and heads of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) over 33 million dollars Azura power purchase agreement.
Other agencies invited include: Nigeria Bulk Electricity Transmission (NBET), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
James Faleke, Chairman, House Committee on Finance investigating alleged breached of agreement and perennial power failure in the country invited heads of all the agencies in Abuja on Tuesday.
Faleke said the agencies would be brought before the committee to explain their role in the power deal, adding that the appropriate date would be communicated to the affected agencies.
The Committee had on August 19, 2022 discovered that the country was committed to a monthly payment of $ 33 million in a take or pay deal.
The probe panel members however discovered that Azura power plant had not been able to deliver the 450 megawatt of electricity agreed to with TCN to the national grid since the contract was signed.
Faleke, however told the Managing Director, TCN, Engr Sule Abdulazeez to present its budget allocation from 2002 and the contract awarded and the certificates by TCN on power transmission line
He said that if Azura would demand money in dollars from power being generated, Nigeria should also demand money from Azura in dollars for power being used from the national grid.
The House Committee also asked TCN to provide it with its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from 2010 including its audit report, while also picking hole on the IGR being spent by TCN outside budgetary provision.
Meanwhile, The House of Representatives yesterday asked the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA to refund to the Federal Government coffers the sum of N13.3 billion being its unremitted revenue funds.
At the resumption of the House.Ad-hoc Committee on Unclaimed Federal Government Funds hearing in Abuja, the probe panel asked NEPZA to provide copies of validated receipts of financial transactions including it’s remittances to government
But the Director of Finance and Administration, NEPZA, Mr Oyesola Oyekunle who appeared for the agency insisted that it was not in any way indebted to the government as all revenues generated over time have been paid to government up to date.
Oyekunle however contradicted himself when he told the lawmakers that since NEPZA is not fully funded, it remits only 25 percent generated revenue to government and has paid N3.93 billion naira last to government, making it to be up to date in payment between the period under review which is the year 2000 to date.
According to him, the agency operates under a circular issued by the Ministry of Finance and not stipulated extant financial laws as expected by the committee hence the remittance percentage to government
The lawmakers despite this statement insisted that the N13.3 billion arrived at was calculated based on the 80 percent revenue remittance provisions to government as contained in the Finance Act and not based on the circular.
Consequently, the Committee adjourned to a later date to enable NEPZA reconcile their audited documents with that of the committee’s consultants to in order for them to come up with a common ground so as to enable the agency clear off its outstanding debt.
In another development ,The Federal Government, on Tuesday, signed a fresh agreement with the United States for the repatriation of a total sum of $23,439,724 that was allegedly looted by the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
While the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, represented FG in the ceremonial signing of the asset return agreement held at the Federal Ministry of Justice Headquarters in Abuja, the U.S. government was represented by its Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard.
The money allegedly stolen from the national till when Abacha was head of state, which is now known as the “Abacha loot” has been repatriated from most countries in Europe and the Americas since his death in 1998 and return of democracy in 1999.
Malami said the decision to return the stolen Abacha loot which he tagged as Abacha-5, was a product of series of negotiations and meetings between Nigeria, the U.S. Department of Justice and the UK National Crime Agency, NCA.
“It is worthy to note that in line with the terms of this Agreement, Mr
President had already approved the funds to be utilized for the ongoing Presidential Development Infrastructural Funds (PIDF) projects namely; Abuja-Kano Road, Lagos-Ibadan Express Way and the Second Niger Bridge under the supervision of Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
“The President’s mandate to my office is to ensure that all international recoveries are transparently invested and monitored by civil society organizations to complete these three projects within the agreed timeline,” Malami stated.
So far, trillions of Naira of the Abacha loot has been repatriated with many more believed to be still out there in the vaults of Western and Asian banks.
However, The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, on Tuesday began investigation into the attack at the Kuje Correctional facility that led to the escape of 64 inmates.
The Chairman of the Commitee Mr Sha’aban Saraba, on Tuesday, in Abuja, said the House resolution to investigate the attack was sequel to a motion moved at plenary.
He said that the House had on July inaugurated a joint committee on national security in the wake of the attack to investigate and come up with possible recommendation that would forestall a re-occurrence.
Saraba said that the committee would ascertain the roles played by security and intelligence agencies in the security breach and proffer ways to mitigate against reoccurrence.
He noted that the concerned security agencies had so many questions to answer as regards the security breach that caused the federal government great embarrassment.
