The House of Representatives expressed grave concern on Monday over the failure of the management of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to embark on revenue generation from over 128,000 private and public quoted companies operating in Nigeria.
Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, conveyed this concern in Abuja during an interactive session on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) with ITF Director General, Mr. Afiz Ogun Oluwatoyin. Faleke demanded the list of all 128,000 companies captured by the Fund.
After scrutinizing various financial statements submitted to the Committee, Hon. Faleke queried the disparity with the audited report submitted by ITF, revealing a deficit of over N12 billion.
He directed the ITF Director of Finance to forward the soft copy of the list of companies to the Secretariat immediately, emphasizing the need to understand the sources of revenue and identify the private quoted companies contributing to the Fund.
Addressing Deputy Chairman Hon. Seidu Abdullahi’s observation about the scanty information and the absence of previous years’ performance data, Faleke stressed the Committee’s request for information about the current year.
Responding to a question about the number of companies fully paid into the Fund, Mr. Ogun stated, “Out of the 128,000 registered contributory employers over the years, only 57,000 are up to date in their contribution to the ITF.”
Faleke noted that the Committee had given the ITF sufficient time to explain the controversial financial documents. He warned that if the Fund couldn’t provide relevant information on the missing funds, the Committee would compel the Fund to remit the missing amount into the Federation Account.
The ITF Director in charge of compliance explained that officials visited defaulting companies, verified their records, and noted that some erring companies come to pay while others resort to litigation. She highlighted the Subcommittee of the Committee headed by Hon. Isiaka, which enforced compliance to the ITF mandate, resulting in many companies making payments and settling out-of-court for those previously in litigation.
Chairman of the House Committee on National Planning & Development, Hon. Isiaka Ibrahim, expressed dissatisfaction with the lackadaisical attitude of ITF management toward enforcing its mandate. He questioned why the ITF was waiting for the House of Representatives to investigate and call companies that owed them.
Hon. Isiaka confirmed that some debtors had paid into the Federation Account, suggesting that the National Assembly should not be the awaited solution. He proposed that joint Committees could help the Fund by invoking legislative instruments to compel erring companies to pay outstanding debts, emphasizing that existing laws impose stiff sanctions on erring companies.
Regarding the payment of N14.7 billion into the Federation Account in 2023 from the N46 billion revenue against over N51 billion generated in 2022, ITF officials explained that the office of the Accountant General for the Federation deducted a 40% operating surplus from the source.
Addressing the refusal of the ITF Director General to honour the last invitation, Hon. Faleke cautioned against prioritizing obedience to Ministers over the National Assembly. He emphasized that no Executive member is superior to the National Assembly and urged against such occurrences in the interest of the country.
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