Nairametrics| The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has accused some commercial banks of withholding proceeds from oil and gas transactions belonging to the Federal Government (FG). According to it, this practice was in opposition to the directive given for all FG funds to be remitted into the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who was represented by the CBN Deputy Director, Banking and Payment System Department, Jack Ukitetu specifically made note of the non-remittance of Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) that some commercial banks had in their custody.
‘‘There are still some funds in banks’ custody under the NCDF, which banks have failed to remit. This is illegal. The CBN will spare no bank found to be wanting in this regard,’’ he warned.
It would be recalled that the NCDF was established by Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010 and requires that one per cent of every contract in the upstream sector of the Nigeria oil and gas industry shall be deducted at source and paid into the fund.
In addition, the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the Federal Government forbids Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from operating accounts with commercial banks.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, also agreed with the accusations of the CBN and explained that some operators had continued to ignorantly pay the fee into the now-dormant accounts of commercial banks, while these had, in turn, refused to remit them into the TSA.
