The Nigerian Government has revealed it has recovered the sum of N2.6 trillion revenue from oil firms through the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) intervention.
This was disclosed by Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Executive Secretary of NEITI, on Tuesday in Abuja at its Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and media engagement on Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) validation, according to NAN.
He noted that the revenues include all taxes and VAT being collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and all royalties being collected by the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
What they are saying
NEITI added that a total of $2.6 billion remained outstanding in the hands of companies as of March 2022.
He said Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) validation is conducted every three years and is a quality assurance mechanism to ascertain the level of compliance and progress in implementing its standards among member countries, including Nigeria.
“By the time we release 2021 report, any company owing Nigeria we have no choice than to invite EFCC to take over and handle it as an economic crime,” he said.
He noted that NEITI released 2019 reports which included a list of 77 oil and gas companies that owed the government up to 6.8 billion dollars, citing that the recovery was a result of NEITI’s appearance at the National Assembly to defend its position based on data it provided.
The NEITI boss added that as soon as it released the 2020 report to prove that, the companies that wanted their names protected were rushing to the relevant agencies to pay up, adding that the list reduced from 77 companies to 51 companies and the amount came down to $3.6 billion.
- “Which shows that from the point we released that information a lot of money came in. None of them disputed our report rather they were giving excuses for why they did not pay.
- “The money includes all taxes and VAT being collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and all royalties being collected by the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
- “NEITI collects nothing, all we are asking is for us to be recognized and offered thank you,” he said.
In case you missed it
- Recall that earlier in September 2021, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji, revealed that 77 oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria are indebted to the country to the tune of N2.659 trillion as Nigeria continues to grapple with a revenue shortfall and has gone borrowing to finance its huge budget deficit with debt service gulping as much as 98% of its revenue.
- He stated that when converted to forex, the government was being owed $6.48 billion at today’s official exchange rate of N410.35, adding that a breakdown of the figures showed that a total of $143.99 million was owed as petroleum profit taxes, $1.089 billion as company income taxes and $201.69 million as education tax.
- According to him, others include $18.46 million and £972,000 as VAT, $23.91 million and £997,000 as withholding tax, $4.357 billion as royalty oil, $292.44 million as royalty gas, while $270.187 million and $41.86 million were unremitted gas flare penalties and concession rentals respectively.
- In October 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari granted approval to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and other anti-corruption agencies like the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover about N2.65 trillion unremitted funds from 77 oil companies operating in the country.
