Governor Adams Oshiomhole has suggested that the Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR) illegally collected about N30billion by deducting cost of revenues at the source from federal government ministries and agencies.
Oshiomhole stated this after the Chairman of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Elias Mbam, announced that all federal government ministries and agencies have been ordered to stop such deductions, adding that, “the law is very clear on the law of collection and on the issue of DPR collecting cost of collection. The position of the commission is very clear on that. We are against that collection and we have queried relevant government agencies for making that available to DPR and asked that it should be suspended.
In response to Mbam statement, Oshiomhole said: “Chairman, you must compel the DPR to refund the money. Edo state will pursue its own share of that money because we have not authorized the DPR to take it. And we have the right to go to court if it is not done because for me I want to die for something and not for nothing because I know I will die.
“DPR’s budget as I understand is about N4 billion annually and in one month illegally they have deducted 4 per cent from certain accruals from royalties among others amounting to over N2 billion. If your annual budget is about N4 billion and you collect over N2 billion in one month which means in a year you are going to collect close to between N24 and N30 billion where your total expenditure is not more than N4 billion.
“This is not only illegal, it is unjust and not acceptable in a decent society We cannot all keep quiet even in the face of everyone abusing power. We drive round the country we see a lot of our able young men.
“In today’s post mortem we want to know how much NIMASA has earned over the years under president Goodluck Jonathan that was never transferred to the federation account and where is the money and how much is it? We also want to know how much NPA transferred to the federation account and if they did not how much do they earn and where is the money?, he quizzed at a three-day seminar held in Benin, Edo state capital.
The seminar was organized by the Post-Mortem sub-committe of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) titled, “National Gas Seminar on the role of gas in Nigeria’s Economy,”
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