House, EFCC to Probe Defaulting Telcos of NITDA Fund

Alhaji Lado Abdullahi, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on ICT, has said that Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will join the committee to investigate telecom providers, over alleged non-remittance of the one per cent annual turnover to National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Abdullahi told newsmen that effort of the committee is to ensure it meets the one-month deadline by the House.

National Information Technology Development Agency Act says telecoms providers should remit a percentage of their annual turnover to NITDA to install infrastructure.

A source at NITDA alleged that telecom providers owed the agency over N200billion which he said had caused Nigeria to lose a verifiable source of revenue generation thus hampering development.

Abdullahi said the house would ensure that the Chief Executive Officers of the nation’s telecom providers accounted for their alleged failure to remit the fund to NITDA for several years.

The lawmaker alleged that the telecom providers had not remitted the said amount since the Act became effective in 2007.

“Our committee has been given a month deadline following a motion sponsored by a member from Ukwa East/West federal constituency in December 2019.

“The committee has not started working because the motion was moved during our last session before we went on recess and we have not resumed.

“So when we resume, we will be able to investigate the matter. Hopefully by 20th of this month, the committee will take off,” he said.

Abdullahi said that the committee would write the telecom providers to furnish it with vital information about their annual turnover starting from 2007, when NITDA Act was enacted, to date.

“We want to know when last they released their turnover to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) from 2007 till date. “We also need to know whether the FIRS too gets information from them.

“FIRS will also provide us with the turnover of each service provider from 2007 till date. “The Attorney-General, Accountant-General, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will furnish us with useful information to do our job.

“The process ought to have been that once the FIRS collects the money, it makes it known to the Accountant-General, who will release same to the Ministry of Finance and then to NITDA,” he said.

He said that majority of them were defaulters which necessitated the investigation of the matter and to prosecute whoever was involved.

“We are involving the Attorney-General, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Department of State Services (DSS) and EFCC.

“Any CEO coming to make presentation has to be on oath. They will be summoned before the national assembly to resolve the issue. The Attorney-General too will do the investigation and prosecute them accordingly,” he said.

Recalled that the house had directed the Abdullahi-led committee to investigate the collection and remittance of the levy on behalf of the National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDF).

The directive followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Uzoma Nkem-Abonta on the need to investigate payment and remittances of taxes acruable to NITDF established by NITDA Act 2007.