The Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara on Tuesday, asked chairmen of standing committees to submit reports of the 2017 appropriation bill to the committee on Appropriation or face sanctions.Dogara who noted the urgent need for the House to conclude work on the 2017 Appropriation Bill, warned that any committee that failed to meet the deadline will face the consequences.He called on chairmen and deputy chairmen of committees that are yet to forward their reports to endeavour to do so latest March 30 to enable the appropriation committee complete work preparatory to the passage of the 2017 money bill.It will be recalled the chairman of the House committee on media and public affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, two weeks ago disclosed that the March 30 deadline set by the National Assembly for the passage of bill was not sacrosanct.Namdas had explained that this was due to the new software being used in the budgetary process.According to him, the new software is slowing down the work of the Appropriation Committee. The new budget software is different from what we used to have before and it is slowing down the process of the Appropriation Committee, Namdas informed.Meanwhile, The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigermay have to part with about N5.6 bn for alleged default in payment of due remittances to the Federal inland Revenue.This is as the House of Representatives mandated its committees on finance, housing and urban development and region planning to investigate the non-remittance of N5.6 billion by the federal mortgage bank of Nigeria to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).The resolution is consequent upon a motion moved yesterday by Reps. Ossai Nicholas Ossai and Victor Nwokolo.Debating the motion, Ossai noted that the federal mortgage of Nigeria was established to provide long-term credit facilities which would encourage mortgage institutions at state and federal levels.Between 2011 and 2015, the bank generated a total revenue of N44.073 billion, with N13.17 billion of having it been generated in 2015, but the bank defaulted in the remittance of value added tax (VAT) collections to FIRS to the tune of N3.4 billion.Due to the poor management of successive managements of the bank, there had been unimaginable high volume of non-performance of 70 percent of the banks risk assets and loans, thus resulting in sharp erosion of its capital structure and the national housing funds deposits, Ossai said.According to him, the mismanagement of the bank has led to huge administrative expenditure expenditure to the extent that its annual average of staff maintenance is N4 billion, while director fees and expenses are on the average of N200 million annually.Citing section 40 of the FIRS Act which states that10 percent should be paid for withheld or un-remitted tax, Ossai noted the need to recover the N5.6 billion so it would be injected into the economy.The sum represents alleged twin default by the bank in remittances to the Federal Inland revenue in Value Added and withholding taxes within a four year period.Co-mover of the motion, Nicholas Ossai identified the defaults by the federal Mortgage bank to cover the period between 2011 and 2015 proposing that the House of Representatives should recover the amount and inject same into the Nigerian economy to serve as part of measures to boost the nations economic activities.He informed the House that the Federal Mortgage had generated over N44bn with within period from which it is obliged to make ten percent remittances to the federal inland Revenue which it is not honour.Too buttress his point, the lawmaker drew the attention of the House to the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act that specifies the penalty of ten per cent on withheld or unremitted tax by any defaulter after thirty days.The House also identified poor management team over the years as reason for breeding about seventy per cent of the banks non performance on risks assets.
Click here to read full news..
