The Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Thursday revealed that over 650 Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are yet to submit their audited accounts to the Office of Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF) in the last 10 years.
This, the committee said, is encouraging corruption.
The committee expressed regret that inadequate funding has crippled activities of the OAuGF, alleging that this is a deliberate attempt at ensuring that the office fails.
This was sequel to the submissions by the Auditor General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine during 2018 budget defence session with the committee.
Chairman of the panel, Mathew Urhoghide lamented that based on submissions made by the Auditor General of the Federation, the war against corruption in the country is bedevilled by sabotage.
According to him, non-submission of audited accounts by MDAs is in contravention of Section 85 (2) of the 1999 Constitution which provides that: “The public accounts of the Federation and of all offices and courts of the Federation shall be audited and reported on to the Auditor-General who shall submit his reports to the National Assembly”.
The lawmaker wondered why anti-graft agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was appropriated with N26 billion to fight corruption in the 2017 budget, N6 billion for the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, while the Auditor General office is appropriated with less than N3 billion.
“This practice no doubt will not allow Nigeria and Nigerians know where and where leakages are taking place and by extension, making mockery of the war against corruption.
“Imagine in the overhead component votes for the office in 2017, out of N234 million budgeted for auditing assignments across the country, only N101 million was released and yet results are being expected.
“This is unacceptable and the National Assembly will not allow for it again by way of appropriation because the office is not just meant to audit account but also ensure value for money on projects executed by all the MDAs”, he said .
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
