Emmanuel OchayiIn a session at the House of Representatives, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) faced pressure to elucidate a variance of over N12 billion in their budget actuals.
Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Rep. James Falake, unleashed a torrent of inquiries during the interaction in Abuja, expressing deep concern over the fiscal disparities.
“ITF’s management must account for the vast difference in their financial reports. We are deeply troubled by this unexplained deficit,” stated Rep. Falake during the session.
Highlighting the failure to tap into revenue sources from over 128,000 private and public quoted companies in Nigeria, Falake underscored the discrepancy between ITF’s operating expenditure of N39.8 billion and total revenue of N45.1 billion. This inquiry left a glaring deficit that demanded immediate clarification.
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“If ITF cannot reconcile this within 24 hours, a full refund of N3 billion to the government will be imperative,” warned Rep. Falake, emphasizing the urgency of rectifying the financial discrepancies.
In a bid to shed light on the revenue sources, Mrs. Safiya Mansur, ITF’s Director of Finance and Accounts, revealed that revenue stemmed from the one percent training contributions from registered companies.
She disclosed that out of 128,000 companies, only 57,000 remained up to date in their contributions, sparking intensified efforts by ITF to ensure compliance, albeit encountering resistance from some defaulting entities.
Meanwhile, Rep. Falake directed scrutiny toward the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) concerning Ziglasis, a company that received N39 billion for providing prepaid meters but failed to deliver.
Falake expressed astonishment over NERC licensing a company that hadn’t fulfilled its contract obligations, urging NERC’s Vice Chairman to summon Ziglasis’ Managing Director and Ministry of Power officials for an explanation on Nov 14.
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