Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) over allegations of non-remittance of taxes to the federation account.
The resolution followed an interactive session with major stockholders in the oil sector at the National assembly.
Members of the committee sought to know if Tenaris Global Services Nigeria Ltd remitted taxes to the relevant government agencies.
The company appeared before the House Committee following a petition by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation against its perceived sharp practices.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Oluwole Oke, while tackling the representatives of the company lamented that most of the oil companies in the zone were deliberately shortchanging the federal government with the connivance of government agencies.
Mr Oke said that the relevant government agencies would be invited to give more insight into the tax compliance status of the company at the next public hearing.
He declared that the committee was not out to witchhunt the companies but rather acting on the petition received from the appropriate quarters for the government which must be thoroughly investigated by the parliament.
Other agencies that appeared before the committee included the Federal Character Commission and the Bureau of Public Procurement who submitted various departments for the defence of the various queries raised against them by the Auditor-General of the Federation.
