FG NOT SERIOUS ABOUT REVENUE GENERATION, GROUP ALLEGES

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, has wrapped the Federal Government over its stance on the NEITI Act, and what it termed 'a rare lack of seriousness about revenue generation'.

The Centre, while speaking through its Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, during a press parley in Abuja yesterday, condemned the Federal Government's aloof nature over reviewing the NEITI Act.

'As far as stakeholders and civil societies are concerned, the Federal Government is unserious about revenue generation. This is because the laws contained in the NEITI Act are weak, and the major fall-out of lack of remediation, weak institutions, lack of capacity, and poor coordination from regulatory agencies is the continuous loss of revenue accruable to the government from the extractive sector.

'If the government is serious, they will move to check discrepancies between payments made by companies and receipts by government, including the annual PPT returns and annual financial statements, due to the Department of Petroleum Resources' inaccurate database on oil licenses issued to prospective clients', Musa said.

He further pointed out that this lack of observance has resulted in the 'under assessment of the PPT value'.

'Extracting companies have devised a means of manipulating these unclear fiscal regimes, and resultantly indulging in tax evasion, tax avoidance, thin capitalisation, transfer pricing and profit-shifting to low-tax havens.'

Ibrahim Musa also advised the Federal Government-constituted National Stakeholders Working Group, NSWG, to work in tandem with other stakeholders to review the NEITI Act.

'The NEITI is a sort of anti-corruption body, but its laws are too weak in some aspects, and this has made it necessary for a review.

'The government is only stalling, so that it can sufficiently protect all those who have been indicted in the audit reports of the extractive industry. Other anti-corruption bodies should also be more proactive. Only by doing this can we get the government to act', Ibrahim Musa.