. Demand details of CBN, NNPCL unremitted surplus revenue
The House of Representatives has withdrawn its proposed constitutional amendment seeking to establish state police, opting instead to consider a similar bill transmitted by the Executive.
The development emerged during Tuesday’s plenary, where lawmakers gave the Executive-sponsored state police bill its first and second readings.
The bill was subsequently referred to the House Committee on Constitutional Review for further legislative action.
The decision effectively suspends the House’s earlier proposal as lawmakers shift attention to the Executive-backed amendment.
The Executive bill is expected to undergo detailed scrutiny at the committee stage, where lawmakers will examine its key provisions before it is returned to the floor for further consideration.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu has transmitted to the House a bill seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution to provide the legal framework for the establishment of state police across the country.
The bill marks the most significant restructuring of Nigeria’s policing architecture since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
In a letter dated June 15, 2026, and addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, the President urged lawmakers to give expedited consideration to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) (State Police) Bill, 2026, describing the proposal as a key component of his administration’s security reforms.
Reading the letter during Tuesday’s plenary by the Speaker, Tinubu said the bill seeks to create “a constitutional pathway for the establishment of State Police Services” to strengthen Nigeria’s response to growing security challenges.
According to the President, the proposed legislation builds on previous work already undertaken by the House of Representatives on the issue while introducing additional safeguards to ensure the effective operation of a dual policing system.
“This bill builds on the significant work already done in this regard by the House of Representatives and incorporates additional safeguards to ensure that the creation of a dual policing structure to address our nation’s evolving national security challenges can be achieved quickly and effectively to the benefit of all Nigerians,” the letter stated.
The President described the legislation as a critical aspect of his administration’s efforts to reorganise the country’s security architecture and appealed to lawmakers to accord it speedy legislative consideration.
“The proposed legislation is a critical component of our administration’s strategy to reorganise Nigeria’s security architecture to better protect our citizens, and I am confident that the House of Representatives will act quickly to consider and pass this bill,” Tinubu wrote.
The President also expressed optimism that the National Assembly would expedite work on the proposal, saying he looked forward to its prompt consideration.
Futhermore, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives has directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) to provide details of the amount of money owed the federal government in the form of unremitted Operation Surplus and other revenues by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Nation Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) and other agencies.
The committee also sought explanation on the alleged withdrawal of N15 billion from the account of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) as well as other agencies by the OAGF.
The directives were given when the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Shamseldeen Ogunjimi appeared before the committee at an investigative hearing on Monday.
A member of the committee, Hon Gboyega Nasir Isiaka had while raising the issue stated that, non-remittance of revenue had been a major challenge to Nigeria.
He said, “I mean, considering our GDP, ours is one of the lowest in the continent, at about 16%. Now, I know that business entities are meant to return about 80% of their taxes, and others are between 20% and 50%.
“From the totality of what we are seeing, there appears to still be some backlog of remittances. Can you give some instances or some figures around this? That is one. Two, even those business entities that are returning, as a member of the economic team, how comfortable are you with the performance of some of those entities given their assets and all of that?
“Like CBN, SEC, NIMASA and some of those. Because it’s not just enough for us to say 80% of their surpluses. What exactly is the surplus they are giving us? These are the asset base that they have in their hand. So I think it’s important for us to have a look at that. In addition to some of the revenues that they are meant to have paid, that they have not paid for.”
Responding to the question, the Director, Revenue and Investment in the OAGF, Makinde Mogaji confirmed that, the CBN was allegedly owing the federal government N5.3 trillion in unremitted Operation Surplus.
He said, “Early last year, they owed the Federal Government in November 5.3trn for their operating surplus and despite all the efforts of the PAC , N5.3 trillion CBN, and despite the effort of the PAC to recover the money, they refused to pay…70% of that money should be paid and behold, CBN refused to pay. That is CBN. And that is just one of our huge source of revenue. Agency like FAAN, we have record of N473 billion paid.”
Responding to the issue of automatic deduction of revenues from MDAs which sometimes leads to reversal of alleged over-remittances, the AGF said, “that was an ingenious way of taking in advance what is due to government last year, and that was how we were able to rake in a lot of revenue last year.
“Let me add to that. Because when we initiated that move and were able to rake in a lot of revenue, some of these agencies went behind to seek a reversal. So, we’ve been battling with that issue because some went back to Mr. President and said that was too much this and that. Some got total cancellation. Some got reduced advance.
“So we have been battling with that and that’s why we were not able to return like what we had last year to that level. And you have instances also where agencies like NNPC refused totally to cooperate…to the extent that they have to be walked out because of their non-compliance and cooperation. NNPC has agreed to some of those abilities, some said no, they do not agree, so all of that is still being handled by a post-mortem committee.”
Shedding more light on the issue, the Director, Revenue and Investment Mogaji said, “Yes, the auto deduction that was established last year has been working perfectly. Like AGF said, the auto deduction is an advanced way. It’s a mechanism designed to pick the operating surplus in advance from these agencies, and at the end of the day, they will collect, they will compute OPS and see whether they have excess or they have been over-deducted. We have some figures here, but they can’t be taken to be the final lists”.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Bamidele Salam said that, UBEC and some other MDAs had complained about how their monies meant for statutory responsibilities were being deducted and used for other purposes by the OAGF.
He said, “There is an ongoing investigation involving UBEC and other agencies. And in the course of the investigation, the UBEC claimed that, for example, there was a shortfall. There was an authority to incur expenditure of November 2025 which was not released by the Accountant General…Another N15 billion from the Commission’s account which has not been refunded. And we actually wondered why these deductions from statutory payments of some of these very critical institutions of government, not only UBEC. We had the same thing with NASENI, N70 billion or more than that? I have different agencies and they complained. So, what is the justification Accountant General?”
Responding, the Accountant General said, “We have instances where at a point in time when we have the need to take monies from some of these agencies to be able to meet critical financial obligations of government. Yes, it’s like a borrow, a loan. We are going to refund it and we have been refunding for those agencies. It’s just to meet those critical obligations.
“Sir, first and foremost, Accountant General cannot just sit and begging to pick money from account of these agencies. We first analyse, because the directives come from the honourable minister. We first analyse how long these funds have remained in the account unutilised. So, if you have this money like six months and government needs funding.
“So we say, let’s take and then we refund your money when you need it. Like Tetfund for instance, we took over 300 and we have refunded the whole to them. So, if you come back and tell us that we need this money now, can you give us that money, then we process and give it back to them”.
However Hon. Salam challenged the OAGF on the alleged deductions and claims of refund to the MDAs which he said was not justified because the MDAs have statutory mandates to execute with the funds.
He asked, “So, which ones have you refunded? UBEC is crying, NASENI is crying, NBC too is crying. We have quite a number of them. We have more than six that are under various investigations here and that is their major claim that they don’t know how to approach this matter, the Accountant General just gets into their accounts so they cannot have the money to use for the primary purpose they were meant for.
“Like the one in UBEC, you will agree with me that the problem we have today including banditry, as a result of our neglect of basic education especially in the northern part of the country. We have about 13.5 million Out-Of-School Children. UBEC is to construct schools, they are to provide infrastructure, instructional materials. They can’t do that because the fund that is statutorily made for them is being taken for other purposes”.
