Deposit Money Banks and insurance companies are expected to rake in the sum of N22.6bn in bank charges and insurance premiums from Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government in 2022.
This was according to an analysis of data contained in the 2022 budget proposal of the MDAs submitted to the National Assembly for approval.
The amount may however be higher than the N22.6bn as certain government agencies such as the Nigerian Customs Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Securities Exchange Council, Nigerian Communications Commission and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission did not include their allocations for bank levies and insurance premiums.
A breakdown of the figure showed that the N22.6bn comprised N17.3bn projected for the payment of insurance premiums and N5.3bn for bank charges.
The bank charges include fees applicable to bank accounts including account maintenance fees and electronic transfer charges.
On the other hand, insurance premiums are funds paid to insurance companies to provide insurance policies for employees. These policies could cover healthcare, automobile, home, or life.
According to the budget document, the top 10 agencies with the highest allocations for insurance premiums are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigeria Copyright Commission, Department of Petroleum Resources, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Accident Insurance Bureau, National Youth Service Corps and Defence Mission.
FIRS set aside the sum of N1.45bn for the payment insurance premiums, FAAN allocated N1.5bn while NIMASA earmarked the sum of N1.3bn.
NCC, NAFDAC and FMBN designated N885.5m, N633.06m and N548.81m respectively for insurance premiums in the 2022.
Meanwhile, Defence Mission, an agency under the Ministry of Defence allocated the sum of N437.7m for the payment of premiums.
National War Museum, National Gallery of Art, Bureau of Public Reforms, Defence Space Administration, Institute of Agricultural Research and training, Federal College of Fresh water and Fisheries, Nigerian National Medicine Development Agency, Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa and Foreign Mission, Kingston make up the top 10 agencies with the lowest budgets for insurance premiums.
Findings show that the National War Musuem allocated only N300,000 for the payment of insurance premiums in its 2022 budget proposal, while the National Gallery of Art designated the sum of N500,000.
BPR and DSA, allocated N500,000 and N402,000 respectively for premiums while IART will spend a total of 162,650 on insurance cover for its employees in 2022.
For the Federal College of Fresh water and Fisheries, the sum of N345,509 was earmarked for insurance premium out of a budget of N1.7bn budget. Meanwhile, the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa allocated N400,000 for premiums payment in its 2022 budget.
NNMDA and Foreign Mission, Kingston allocated N14,768 and N4,734 respectively for insurance premiums, making them the agencies with the smallest insurance budgets.
A cursory look at the N5.3bn projected to be spent on bank charges shows that, the FIRS and National civil Aviation Authority will pay the bulk of the amount as the agencies earmarked N1.7bn and N1.4bn for bank charges in 2022.
Other agencies with high budgetary allocations for bank charges include the Bank of Agriculture, Nigerian Port Authority, Nigerian Postal Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, FAAN, FMBN, the now defunct DPR and the office of the National Security Adviser.
The budget shows that BOA budgeted the sum of N460.3m for bank charges, NPA earmarked N250.5m while NIPOST allocated N208.6m.
The FRSC set aside the sum of N74.7m, FMBN allocated N31.9m, FAAN earmarked N30m while NSA and DPR projected to spend N57m and N75m on bank charges, respectively.
Further analysis of the budget revealed that the National Biosafety Management Agency, the West African Management Development Institutes Network, the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency as well as agencies under the Ministries of Health, Education and foreign affairs, will pay the least in bank charges.
For instance the Physical Health Center Tutors Programme, Kaduna Polytechnic, an agency of the Ministry of Health allocated only N4, 460 for bank charges, the Federal Government College Jos under the Ministry of Education set aside N7,517 while FGC Gboko and FGC Gusau budgeted N10,897 and N38,727, respectively.
Source PUNCH
