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Petroleum Trust Fund must account for interest on N34bn in fixed deposit—Senate

by Business News Report

Senate has vowed that the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) now  Nigeria  Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NPRA) must account for the  interest that accrued to N34 billion placed in the fixed deposit. The Senator Matthew Urhoghide led Senate Committee on Public Accounts accused the agency of not remitting fully the interest accrued from N34 billion in Fixed deposit account. Addressing Journalists on the matter, Senator  Urhoghide who noted that the agency must present evidence of remitting N182 million accrued from N34 billion placed in fixed deposit, said  that whether the agency changes name or not, the agency must appear before the Committee and account for interest accrued to N34 billion in the fixed deposit account.

According to him, PEF must account for the outstanding of N100 million that is remaining in the interest accrued to N34 billion placed in the fixed deposit account or else the Committee will sustain the position of Auditor General’s of the Federation against the agency. But, the Agency claimed to have remitted the interest to the Federation Account in a letter to the Committee. The query read, “At  the  Petroleum  Equalisation  Fund  (Management)  Board,  it  was  revealed  that  in 2015,  the  Board  placed  the  sum  of  N34,003,057,534.22  (Thirty-four  billion,  three  million, fifty-seven  thousand,  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  naira,  twenty-two  kobo)  in  fixed deposit  accounts  in  various  banks  which  yielded  interest  in  the  sum  of  N182,400,810.74 (One  hundred  and  eighty-two  million,  four  hundred  thousand,  eight  hundred  and  ten naira,  seventy-four  kobo). 

” However,  the  Board  remitted  only  the  sum  of N82,263,824.31  (Eighty-two  million,  two  hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand,  eight hundred  and  twenty-four  naira,  thirty-one  kobo)  to  the  Consolidated  Revenue  Fund, leaving  a  balance  of  N100,136,986.43  (One  hundred  million,  one  hundred  and  thirty-six thousand,  nine hundred and eighty-six  naira,  forty-three kobo)  unaccounted for.  This  act  is  a  contravention  of  the  provision  of  Financial  Regulation  222  which stipulates  that  “Interest  earned  on  bank  accounts  must  be  properly  classified  to  the appropriate  revenue head  of  Accounts and paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. 

“The  Executive  Secretary  should  remit  the  outstanding  interest  yield  of N100,136,986.43  immediately  to  the  Consolidated  Revenue  Fund  and  furnish  evidence of  remittance  for  my  verification. Failure  to  comply  should  attract  appropriate  sanctions in  line  with  Financial  Regulation  3112  which  stipulates  that  “where  an  officer  fails  to  give satisfactory  reply  to  an  audit  query  within  7  days  for  his  failure  to  account  for government  revenue,  such  officer  shall  be  surcharged  for  the  full  amount  involved  and such  officer  handed  over  to  either  the  Economic  and  Financial  Crimes  Commission (EFCC)  or  Independent  Corrupt  Practices  and  Other  Related  Offences  Commission (ICPC).”

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