20 October 2011, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says it has remitted N360 million to the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as value added and withholding taxes collected on behalf of the Service between 2006 and 2010.
NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, disclosed this Wednesday at a meeting on compliance with reporting obligations.
Urging licencees in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry to discharge their reporting obligations, he said NERC demonstrated its commitment to such obligations by being the first Nigeria’s Federal Government agency to fully subscribe to the Freedom of Information Act and have a dedicated link to the Act on its website.
Amadi gave a breakdown of the amount remitted during the period under review as N206.7 million as withholding tax and N153.6 million as value added tax.
He said the Commission was aware of the need to guard its integrity jealously as the most valuable asset of any regulator.
“A regulator should comply with reporting obligations, especially as they relate to the integrity of public finance,” he said.
But, he declined to join issues with the Auditor General of Federation, Mr Samuel Okura, over statement credited to him that NERC was among 41 Federal Government agencies that have not opened their books for audit and preferred to believe that that the Auditor General may have been quoted out of context.
