The Senate Committee on Public Account has given the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele 72 hours ultimatum to appear before it over alleged disappearance of $9.5m interest accrued from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) investment.

The Senate Committee chaired by Senator Matthew Urhoghide disclosed that the principal sums deposited, the tenor and rate of interest were shrouded in secrecy.
Petroleum profit tax (PPT) is a tax applicable to upstream operations in the oil industry.

It is particularly related to rents, royalties, margins and profit sharing elements associated with oil mining, prospecting and exploration leases.

Urhigide gave the apex bank Governor till Thursday this week to appear to address what he described as ” many issues the CBN Governor needs to respond to to corroborate some statements of account.”

Recall that the committee had two weeks ago summoned the officials of the apex bank over alleged disappearance of the fund, but the apex bank failed to appear before the lawmakers.

The summons was hinged on the consideration of a report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, which probed the spendings of federal government’s agencies.

The report had said: “During the examination of transfers to Foreign Excess PPT/Royalty and Foreign Excess Crude Accounts, it was observed that during the year 2016, amount totalling $6 million and $3.5 million were credited to the Foreign PPT/Royalty and Foreign Excess Crude Account as interest on funds investments.

“The authority for placing the funds which yielded the above interests totaling $9.5 million in deposit account, the principal sums deposited, the tenor and rate of interest were not made available for audit verification.

“This observation had also been a subject of my reports since 2017 without any positive response from Central Bank of Nigeria.

“Records made available for audit further revealed that the balance in the foreign PPT/Royalty and Foreign Excess Crude accounts as at 28th December 2016 were USD0.00 and USD251,826 respectively.

“This suggests the foreign PPT/Royalty was depleted before the year end.

“The Accountant General has been requested to provide the authority for the funds invested, tenor of the investment, rate of interest payable, certificate for the funds invested and forward same for audit verification.”