The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) has told the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts that the Central Bank of Nigeria was indebted to the government by N5.3 trillion, representing unremitted revenue from its operating surplus.

Director, Revenue and Investment, in the OAGF, Makinde Mogaji disclosed this while responding to questions from members of the committee when the Accountant General of the Federation, Shamsedeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, appeared before the Committee to defend audit queries from the office of the Auditor General for the Federation.

Mogaji said, “Early last year, they were owing the Federal Government N5.3 trillion from their operating surplus, and despite all the efforts of the PAC to recover the money, they refused to pay. The PAC said 70% of that money should be paid, but CBN has refused to pay, and that is just one of our huge sources of revenue. For an agency like FAAN, we have a record of N473 billion paid.”


The House, however, directed the Accountant General to provide details of the amount owed to the Federal Government by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Nation Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), and other agencies, in the form of unremitted operating surplus and other revenues.

The House is also asking the Accountant General to explain the alleged withdrawal of N15 billion from the account of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and other agencies by the OAGF.

Responding to questions on the issue of automatic deduction of revenues from MDAs, which sometimes leads to reversal of alleged over-remittances, the AGF described it as “an ingenious way of taking in advance what is due to government last year, and that was how we were able to rake in a lot of revenue last year”.

He, however, explained that when we (OAGF) initiated that move and were able to rake in a lot of revenue, some of these agencies went behind to seek a reversal. So, we’ve been battling with that issue because some went back to Mr President and said that was too much, and some got a total cancellation, while some got a reduced advance,

“So we have been battling with that, and that’s why we were not able to return to the level we were last year. Also, there are instances where agencies like NNPCL refused to cooperate entirely, to the point that they had to be walked out for non-compliance and lack of cooperation. NNPCL agreed to some of those abilities, and for some, they do not agree. So, all of that is still being handled by a post-mortem committee”.

Shedding light on the issue, the Director, Revenue and Investment, Mogaji said, “The auto deduction established last year has worked perfectly. As AGF said, the auto-deduction is an advanced approach. It’s a mechanism designed to pick the operating surplus in advance from these agencies, and at the end of the day, they will collect, they will compute OPS and see whether they have excess or they have been over-deducted”.

Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam, said that UBEC and other MDAs have complained that the OAGF is deducting funds meant for their statutory responsibilities and using them for other purposes.

He said, “There is an ongoing investigation involving UBEC and other agencies. During the investigation, UBEC claimed there was a shortfall. There was an authority to incur expenditure in November 2025, which was not released by the Accountant General, and N16 billion was taken from the Commission’s account, and another N15 billion from the Commission’s account, which has not been refunded.

“We are actually wondering why these deductions are made from the statutory payments of some of these very critical institutions of government. UBEC is not the only agency affected by this. We had the same thing with NASENI, with about N70 billion or more deducted. I have different agencies that have complained. So, what is the justification, General?

Salam challenged the OAGF on the alleged deductions and refund claims to the MDAs, which he said were not justified because the MDAs have statutory mandates to execute with the funds.

He asked, “So, which ones have you refunded? UBEC is crying, NASENI is crying, and NBC is crying too. We have quite a number of them. We have more than six that are under various investigations here, and their major claim is that they don’t know how to approach this matter because the Accountant General just gets into their accounts, takes money out, and when they need it, they cannot get the money to use.

“Like the one in UBEC, you will agree with me that the problem we have today, including Banditry and what have you, is also a result of our neglect of basic education, especially in the northern part of the country. We have about 13.5 million Out-Of-School Children. UBEC is to construct schools; they are to provide infrastructure and instructional materials. They can’t do that because the fund that is statutorily made for them is being taken for other purposes”.

Responding, the Accountant General said, “We have instances when we have to take monies from some of these agencies to be able to meet critical financial obligations of government. Yes, it’s like a loan. We are going to refund it, and we have been refunding the money to these agencies. It’s just to meet those critical obligations.

“Sir, first and foremost, the Accountant General cannot just sit and begin to pick money from the accounts of these agencies. The directives come from the Honourable Minister, and we first analyse how long these funds have remained unutilised in the agencies’ accounts. So, if you have this money for six months and the government needs funding, we say, let’s take it and refund your money when you need it.

“Like Tetfund, for instance, we took over N300 billion, and we have refunded the whole amount to them. If you come back and tell us that you need your money, we process and give it back to you.”

A member of the committee, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, had said that the issue stated that non-remittance of revenue has been a major challenge to Nigeria, saying “considering our GDP, you know, I mean, ours is one of the lowest in the continent, at about 16%. Now, I know that business entities are meant to return about 80% of their taxes, and others are between 20% and 50%.

“From the totality of what we are seeing, there appears to still be some backlog of Remittances. Can you give some examples or figures on this? That is one. Two, even those business entities that are returning, as a member of the economic team, how comfortable are you with the performance of some of those entities given their assets and all of that?

“Like CBN, SEC, NIMASA and some of those agencies, it’s not just enough for us to say 80% of their surpluses. What exactly is the surplus they are giving us? These are the assets that they have in their hand. So I think it’s important for us to have a look at that. In addition to some of the revenues that they are meant to have paid, that they have not paid for.”