…demand accountability for CBN, NNPC Ltd outstanding liabilities
By Taiwo Scholarstica
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has alleged the illegal withdrawal of N15bn from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
The lawmakers made the accusation during an investigative hearing held on Tuesday at the National Assembly, where the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, appeared alongside senior Treasury officials.
During the investigative hearing, the Lawmakers also ordered the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to provide detailed records of outstanding revenues allegedly owed to the Federal Government by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and other government-owned enterprises.
The committee also requested explanations over claims that the OAGF deducted funds from the statutory accounts of several Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The hearing forms part of the committee’s oversight responsibilities to ensure compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which mandates government-owned enterprises to remit a specified percentage of their operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Speaking during the session, a committee member, Hon.Gboyega Isiaka expressed concern over Nigeria’s revenue performance, stressing that poor compliance with remittance obligations continued to weaken the country’s fiscal position.
Addressing the Accountant-General, Isiaka said, “Considering our GDP, ours is one of the lowest on the continent, at about 16 per cent. Business entities are expected to return about 80 per cent of their operating surplus, while others remit between 20 and 50 per cent.”
“From everything we are seeing, there still appears to be a backlog of remittances. Can you provide some figures? Beyond that, as a member of the economic management team, how satisfied are you with the performance of agencies such as the CBN, SEC, NIMASA and others, considering the scale of assets they manage?”
“It is not enough to say they remitted 80 per cent of their surpluses. What exactly is the surplus they are declaring? We need to examine that against the assets under their control, as well as the revenues they ought to have paid but have not.”
Responding, the Director of Revenue and Investment at the OAGF, Makinde Mogaji, disclosed that the CBN allegedly owed the Federal Government N5.3tn in unremitted operating surplus.
He said, “Early last year, the CBN was owing the Federal Government N5.3tn as operating surplus. Despite the efforts of the Public Accounts Committee to recover the money, it has not been paid.”
“Seventy per cent of that amount ought to have been remitted, but the CBN refused to pay. That is just one of our major sources of revenue. In contrast, an agency like FAAN has remitted N473bn.”
Lawmakers also examined the OAGF’s policy of automatically deducting funds from the accounts of MDAs to recover anticipated operating surplus before the end of each fiscal year.
Defending the policy, Ogunjimi said, “That was an ingenious way of taking, in advance, what was due to government, and it helped us generate substantial revenue last year.”
He, however, admitted that some agencies opposed the deductions, leading to reviews and reversals in certain cases.
“When we introduced the initiative and generated significant revenue, some agencies sought reversals. Some went to Mr President, arguing that the deductions were excessive. In some cases, the deductions were cancelled entirely; in others, they were reduced.”
The Committee Chairman, Rep.Bamidele Salam further questioned the legality of the deductions, citing complaints from UBEC, NASENI and other agencies over the withdrawal of statutory funds.
He said, “There is an ongoing investigation involving UBEC and other agencies. UBEC claimed that funds approved under its November 2025 Authority to Incur Expenditure were not released by the Accountant-General. It also alleged that N16bn and another N15bn were taken from the commission’s account without refund.”
“We are concerned about these deductions from statutory allocations to critical government institutions. It is not only UBEC. NASENI raised similar complaints involving over N70bn, and several other agencies have also made similar allegations. So, what is the justification?”
In response, Ogunjimi maintained that the withdrawals were temporary and intended to meet urgent government financial obligations.
He said, “There have been occasions when government needed to meet critical financial obligations, and we temporarily utilised funds belonging to some agencies. It is essentially a loan, and we have been refunding those agencies.”
“The Accountant-General cannot arbitrarily withdraw money from agencies’ accounts. We first analyse how long the funds have remained idle, acting on directives from the Honourable Minister. If funds have remained unutilised for several months and government urgently requires financing, we temporarily deploy them and refund the money when the agency needs it.”
“We have continued to manage those issues, which is one reason we have not been able to sustain the level of collections achieved last year. There were also instances where agencies such as the NNPCL refused to cooperate to the extent that they had to be asked to leave because of their non-compliance. While NNPCL accepted some of the liabilities, it disputed others, and those issues are still being considered by a post-mortem committee.”
Providing further clarification, Mogaji said, “Yes, the auto-deduction system introduced last year is still in operation. It is designed to recover operating surplus in advance, after which agencies compute their actual surplus to determine whether they have been over-deducted or owe additional remittances. The figures we currently have are still subject to reconciliation and should not be regarded as final.”
“For example, we utilised over N300bn belonging to TETFund and subsequently refunded the entire amount. Whenever an agency requests its funds for approved projects, we process the refund.”
Salam, however, rejected the explanation, insisting that agencies established by law should have uninterrupted access to their statutory allocations.
He said, “Which agencies have actually been refunded? UBEC is complaining, NASENI is complaining, NBC is complaining, and several others currently under investigation have made similar claims. Their major grievance is that funds are withdrawn from their accounts, leaving them unable to carry out the responsibilities for which the money was appropriated.”
“Take UBEC, for instance. We all know the consequences of neglecting basic education, particularly in northern Nigeria. We have about 13.5 million out-of-school children.”
“UBEC is expected to build schools, provide infrastructure and supply instructional materials. It cannot effectively discharge those responsibilities if its statutory funds are diverted to other purposes.”
At the end of the hearing, the committee directed the OAGF to submit comprehensive records of outstanding operating surplus owed by the CBN, NNPCL and other government-owned enterprises. It also requested documents detailing deductions from MDA accounts, refunds already made and outstanding balances.
The investigation is expected to continue in the coming weeks as lawmakers seek to recover outstanding government revenues and determine whether the deductions from statutory agency accounts complied with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.