By Henry Umoru

INSPITE of Federal Government’s declaration Thursday that it would prosecute 33 of its agencies over  non remittance of N450 billion generated between 2010 and 2015, the Senate has vowed to go ahead with its  probe into the alleged non remittance or under remittance of generated revenue,  misuse,  and other fraudulent practices in the collection, accounting, and expenditure of internally generated revenue by all revenue generating agencies of government for a period of four years, beginning from 2012 to 2016.

SENATE CHAMBER

According to the Senate yesterday, what the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA; Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,  NNPC;  Federal Inland Revenue Sevice, FIRS; Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, NAMA; Nigeria Television Authority, NTA; National Broadcasting Commission, NBC and all others listed under the Fiscal Responsibility Act have failed to remit to the government between this period runs into trillions of Naira.

It will be recalled that the Upper Chambers had on Tuesday constituted a six member Ad Hoc Committee to carry out a holistic government leakages, non- remittance and misuse of revenue generated, even as there were claims that these agencies were under-remitting billions of naira realized every year.

The Federal government on its part on Thursday said it would carry out a similar exercise, even as the Senate said yesterday that its own investigation would be holistic while that of the federal government would be in house, adding that they would compliment each other in the assignment.

In a statement yesterday, Chairman, Senate Adhoc Committee on  Non Remittance and Misuse of Generated Revenue by Revenue Generating Agencies, Senator Solomon Adeola, APC, Lagos West while  reacting to the disclosures by the Finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said that Senate was going ahead with its investigation  following the disclosure by Minister of Finance of non- remittance of over 450 billion by some 33 such  revelation by the Finance minister has given  additional fillip to the motion  moved and passed into a Resolution by the Senate on the need to investigate these agencies for gross violation of the Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007.

He stressed that in  due course the figures involved in these non- remittances and misuse of generated revenue will run into trillion of Naira for the period of 2012 to 2016. Senator Adeola said, “The disclosure by the minister of Finance has further justified the Senate resolution of Tuesday setting up an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate these financial breaches that had denied the Federal Government of huge revenue all these years.”

According to him, the Committee would partner and cooperate with the  Federal Ministry of Finance and other relevant agencies of government to resolve this issue in the interest of Nigerians, stressing that the government was in dire need of fund to address the on- going recession in the economy.