Firms that failed to remit petroleum profit tax, income tax, education tax, VAT, others now owe the Federal Government to the tune of N2.66tn, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative said on Tuesday.
NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Orji Ogbonnaya-Orji, who said this in Abuja while speaking on the status of EITI implementation in Nigeria, said the 77 firms carried out their operations across the country.
Ogbonnaya-Orji explained that the N2.66tn debt arose from failure to remit petroleum profit tax, company income tax, education tax, value added tax, withholding tax, royalty and concession on rentals.
He explained that the total liabilities of the 77 companies were captured in the agencies’ 2019 independent audit report of the oil and gas sector.
Ogbonnaya-Orji said, “The NEITI reports based on findings in its 2019 audit of the oil and gas sector show that oil and gas companies in Nigeria owe government about $6.48bn, which equals N2.66tn at today’s exchange rate of N410.35.
“A breakdown of the figures show that a total of $143.99m is owed as petroleum profit taxes, $1.089bn as company income taxes and $201.69m as education tax.
“Others include $18.46m and £972,000 as Value Added Tax, $23.91m and £997,000 as withholding tax, $4.357bn as royalty oil, $292.44m as royalty gas, while $270.187m and $41.86m were unremitted gas flare penalties and concession rentals respectively.”
The NEITI boss said the disclosure was important in view of the government’s current search for revenue to address the demand for steady power, good roads, quality education, fight against insurgency and job creation.
