Unremitted Revenue: NEITI seeks help to recover $20 billion
By Eloyi Matthew
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says it has traced over $20 billion in unremitted revenue to companies hence, sought the assistance of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to recover the funds.
This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary (ES) of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji during a visit to the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Muhammad Nami.
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He said that so far, the agency had recovered over $3 billion from companies over the years.
Orji noted that as a member of the NEITI Board, the FIRS is an important stakeholder in the government’s effort to ensure that companies pay the exact revenue in taxes and royalties.
According to him, “FIRS is as important to NEITI as the NNPC, DPR and as the Central Bank of Nigeria with who we also have deepened relationship. However, over the years that relationship with FIRS has not been as it should be.
“We recall the FIRS was on our board when Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru was here and it was through the instruments of our reports that she did a lot of reforms which in the last years that you came, you have taken to a very far digital age.
“You have brought in a lot of technology and has reduced human interference in the work you do. We are very proud of the job you have been doing.
“When you reel out the figures that the FIRS has recovered most times, they give targets and you meet the targets, we think you can do more if we bring the NEITI/EITI principles into what you do in terms of openness, transparency, and accountability,” Orji stated
He also requested FIRS to release data needed for its oil and industry on time, saying that it would go a long way in helping the agency in delivering its mandate.
In his response, Mr Nami assured that FIRS would support, saying in the past years cooperation between both organizations has improved greatly.
He noted that even by NEITI’s assessment, FIRS scored 95 per cent in terms of cooperation in the process for the just-released NEITI 2019 Oil and Gas Audit report.
He assured that FIRS would support NEITI and ensure that the $20 billion was recovered from the companies, calling on NEITI to make more detailed information available to the Service.
Unremitted Revenue: NEITI seeks help to recover $20 billion