Reps panel recovers ₦521.8m VAT from CBN, seeks more claims

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recovered ₦521.8 million in unpaid Value Added Tax (VAT) from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This is part of its investigation into revenue losses linked to transactions on the Remita platform.

The committee explained that this amount represents VAT deductions from fees earned through Remita transactions that were not sent to the federal government from November 2018 to April 2024.

This recovery happened after the committee started looking into reports of revenue losses. The House had asked the committee to investigate claims of revenue leakages, failure to follow rules, and breaches of agreements related to the Remita payment platform.

The investigation was based on a resolution by the House that followed a motion about possible revenue losses via the Remita platform.

The lawmakers told the Public Accounts Committee to check the transactions, see how well the rules were followed, and recover any money owed to the federal government.

Bamidele Salam, the chairman of the committee, said on Sunday that the findings came from a thorough review of transactions and payments linked to the platform.

The committee stated that the CBN was told to pay the outstanding VAT amount of ₦521,765,134.17 into the Federal Government Treasury and to provide proof of this payment.

In a letter dated 7 May, the bank reportedly told the committee that it had complied with this order and showed proof that the money had been paid into government accounts.

Mr Salam called the recovery a sign of how important legislative oversight is for holding people accountable and protecting public funds.

He added that the committee “remains committed to identifying and recovering all outstanding revenues due to the federal government from public institutions and service providers.”

This VAT recovery is just one result of the committee's ongoing investigation into the Remita platform. The investigation has also found other debts amounting to billions of naira.

The committee mentioned that talks with the CBN are ongoing about recovering ₦954.3 million in unrefunded charges and ₦2.33 billion in accrued interest. This brings the total amount being sought in this case to ₦3.28 billion.

The disputed funds are from transactions that took place between 1 March and 31 October 2015.

The committee is also looking to recover ₦8.99 billion in unrefunded Treasury Single Account (TSA) collections. With accrued interest of ₦20.73 billion, the total debt for this category is ₦29.72 billion.

When added to the other disputed claims, the committee is trying to recover over ₦33 billion from the CBN and other related entities.

The House panel said its investigation is ongoing, with another hearing set for Monday, 8 June at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.