Between Operating Surplus And The NPA Saga: Are Nigerians Been Played? BY OTU OTU ITA

Most Nigerian leaders play the citizens like a game.

How do you explain that a man whose negligence may have caused the under remittances of Operating Surplus at the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) leading to the current ordeal of madam Hadiza Usman is now the acting Head of the same NPA? How?

Hear this:
“Mr. Mohammed Koko until his elevation was the Sub Accounting Officer of the NPA. What that suggest is that he was entrusted with the receipt, custody, disbursement of monies and keeping of financial books at Nigerian Port Authority.”

Grammar aside, going by what is so far reported, truth is, Mr. Koko did a very unprofessional job which has resulted in the ongoing media trial of Hadiza Usman and should be punished alongside for violating Extant Laws instead of the promotion.

Anyways, today, most National Dailies have reported that over 60 MDAs have failed to remit Operating Surplus to the tune of Three Trillion naira.

If there’s an iota of sincerity on the treatment meted on Hadiza Usman then Nigerians should expect that more CEO’s of MDAs will have to face similar music.

That said, here is what you need to know about Operating Surplus?

Operating Surplus is the excess of gross revenue over expenditures of Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) from the result of their operations and activities over a one year period.

Operating Surplus of Government Agencies is not inclusive of Tax and Levies payable by such Organisations.

Operating Surplus is calculated based on Accrual System of Accounting which makes for easier analysis of the Income and Expenditure profile of such GOEs.

Operating Surplus can only be determined using the Audited Financial Statement of such an Agency which is usually prepared and obtained at the end of each Financial Year in accordance with International Auditing Standards.

However, in the computation and determination of Operating Surplus, there is a prescribed computation template which takes into account the peculiarities of the activities of such Corporations by either disallowing unauthorized expense and adding back to appropriately arrive at Operating Surplus in line with the template developed by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.

The Operating Surplus template is designed similar to the tools which the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) applies in assessing private companies to tax under the Companies Income Tax Act. According to the definition of terms as contained in the template for computation of Operating Surplus, operating surplus is the difference between the GOEs Income and Expenditure calculated on the basis of acceptable accounting practices.

The Operating Surplus is appropriated in line with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, FRA 2007. The Corporation keeps 20% in it’s General Reserve Fund and remits 80% to the Consolidated Revenue Fund(CRF).

My opinion may not be 100% correct but I hope the above meets your information need on the ongoing media trial of Hadiza Usman.

Otu Otu Ita is an advisor to the Cross River State Government on Fiscal Responsibility.

NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Otu Otu Ita and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.