Report: Immigration, NSITF Had No Financial Statements For 10 Years

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund have not submitted their annual financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) in over 10 years.

This is contained in a report unveiled by the OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative (OAI) and its partners in the Growth Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) Nigeria Project.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA, 2007) empowers the FRC to reconcile accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government and ensure that they did not spend more than the amount appropriated to them.

The first part of the report titled, “Where is the Money”, highlights the revenue remittance compliance index of the MDAs.

Out of the 150 MDAs investigated, 58 were categorised as ‘Above Average Compliance’, 73 were listed as ‘Average Compliance Category’ and 19 as ‘Below Average Compliance.’

Of the 19 listed under the ‘Below Average Compliance Category,’ the NSITF failed to submit its annual financial statements since 2010. NIS has also not done so since 2012.

Also under the ‘Below Average Compliance’ category are the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET), Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC).

Under the “Average Compliance” category are agencies that have not submitted their annual financial statements between 2018 and 2020. They include the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC); Federal High Court, Abuja; Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd.

Others are, the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), among others.

Those that submitted their financial statements and were categorised as ‘Above Average Compliance are Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria Press Council (NPC), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The others are the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Export Promotion Zones Authority (NEPZA), Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), National Broadcast Commission.

Executive Director, Order Paper, Oke Epia, in his presentation, said the organisation “embarked on the collation of the data to help ensure revenue remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)”.

Epia noted that a rise in government revenue was an incentive for less borrowing, saying that the index as captured by the report was derived from the FRC.

He added: “We are implementing a project we call Gift Nigeria and it seeks to interrogate the issues of transparency and accountability in the petroleum sector especially as it relates to revenue mobilisation and remittances into the Federation Account.:

Chris Uwadoka, the special adviser to the FRC Chairman, Victor Muruako, said the report by OrderPaper and its partners would help the commission in carrying out its mandate.

He said that the report “ is a clear example of how it should be done and other CSOS are encouraged.”

Reviewing the report, an Economist, Tope Fasua, lamented the increasingly complex revenue problem of the country.

Fasua stated that Nigeria was buffeted by a combination of revenue, debt and expenditure problems.

“What we are likely to see based on evaluation of the current situation is company closures, inflation rising from 18.6 per cent to a three-digit situation. I am not trying to be an alarmist, but they are things that have happened to other countries,” he said.