Grace Cofie
Deposit Banks and Insurance companies are expected to make the sum of N22.6bn in bank charges and insurance premiums from government agencies which includes Ministries, Departments and Agencies in 2022.
This was contained in the 2022 budget proposal of the MDAs submitted to the National Assembly for approval.
A breakdown of the figure showed that the amount 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.
This amount, however, may 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.
According to the budget document, the top 10 agencies with the highest allocations for insurance premiums are the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) with the sum of N1.45bn, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) with the sum of N1.5bn, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) allocated the sum of N1.3bn.
Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC) designated N855.5m, Department of Petroleum Resources, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) with the sum of N633.06m, and Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) allocated the sum of N437.7m.
Others includes Accident Insurance Bureau, National Youth Service Corps and Defence Mission.
For the top 10 agencies with the lowest budgets for insurance premiums, the National War Museum allocated only N300,000 for insurance premiums in its 2022 budget proposal, National Gallery of Art and Bureau of Public Reforms with the sum of N500,000, Defence Space Administration with the sum of N402,000 while Institute of Agricultural Research and training will spend a total of N162,650 on insurance cover for its employees in 2022.
Federal College of Fresh water and Fisheries has earmarked N345,509 while the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa has allocated N400,000.
Nigerian National Medicine Development Agency allocated N14,768 and Foreign Mission, Kingston with the sum of N4,734.
On bank charges, the FIRS and National Civil Aviation Authority will pay the bulk of the amount with the sum of N1.7bn and N1.4bn respectively.
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 Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the office of the National Security Adviser.
The budget shows that Bank of Nigeria (BOA) budgeted the sum of N460.3m for bank charges, Nigeria Port Authority (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.
The agencies with the least bank charges include 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.
