The House of Representatives has summoned the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to clarify a N12 billion disparity in its budget actuals as of Dec. 31, 2022. The demand was made during the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper interactive session in Abuja, chaired by James Falake, the chairman of the House committee on Finance.
Falake expressed serious concern over ITF’s lack of revenue generation from the 128,000 private and public quoted companies operating in Nigeria.
After reviewing the financial statements, Mr. Faleke queried the difference in the audited report submitted by ITF, uncovering a deficit of over N12 billion. This deficit was observed in the accrued budget actuals as recorded in the Auditor General’s report for the same period.
He questioned the ITF’s N39.8 billion operating expenditure in 2022 against a total revenue of N45.1 billion, given the organization’s modest workforce of only 2,691 employees nationwide. Falake warned that failure to account for the disparity within 24 hours would result in the refund of the entire N3 billion to the government coffers.
Director of Finance and Accounts at ITF, Safiya Mansur, explained that the fund’s revenue was sourced from the one per cent training contributions from public and private companies. Out of the 128,000 registered companies contributing to the ITF, only 57,000 are up to date in their contributions. To ensure compliance, she mentioned that ITF intensified monitoring of defaulting companies, some of which resulted in litigation, later resolved through the intervention of the previous house committee.
Meanwhile, the committee also tasked the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to account for registering a company without the capacity to deliver, despite allocating N39 billion to supply prepaid meters for distribution to consumers. The House further urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to explain its failure to remit about N291 billion revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation between January 2022 and September 2023.
Mr. Faleke revealed that the funds were purportedly spent on broadband connections in public places such as markets. Additionally, the committee questioned the agreement between the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Company and Azura power company in the table or pay agreement, committing the country to a $30 million monthly power purchase agreement, irrespective of power supply.
The House committee also demanded detailed information on how NCC spent the N291 billion on broadband in 2022 and its project locations. The committee instructed the NCC to provide these details promptly.
